08/11/2007
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Michoma Douglass Moenga
Two more victims identified
Divers recovered the remains of a mother and daughter
and a 47-year-old Rosemount man who survived the plunge into the river and
died while apparently trying to help others.
Peter Hausmann, of Rosemount, was on the 35W bridge when it collapsed.
His body was recovered from the river on Thursday.
Courtesy Assurity River Group
Officials carry a body up the embankment on the north side of
the Mississippi River about 12:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Jerry Holt
, Star Tribune
NTSB officials looked over a section of the bridge located on the
north side of the bridge.
Jerry Holt
, Star Tribune
Officials remove a car from the Mississippi river at the I-35W
bridge Wednesday afternoon.
Jerry Holt
, Star Tribune
Officials have shrunk the keep-out area around the site of the
35W bridge collapse. The yellow dotted line is where the boundaries had been
since shortly after the Aug. 1 collapse; the yellow shaded area is where they
are now. The number of people taking a look at the disaster scene had also
shrunk dramatically Wednesday. Crowds were very thin at both the Stone Arch
Bridge and the Guthrie Theater. Boat traffic on the river, however, is still
prohibited between 3rd Av., just above the Upper St. Anthony Lock and Dam,
and the Ford Bridge.
Friends and family gathered to bid farewell to bridge collapse
victim Sherry Engebretsen at Incarnation Lutheran Church.
Elizabeth Flores
, Star Tribune
Peter Hausmann, a father of four from Rosemount, survived the collapse
and escaped from his van into the murky, turbulent waters, according to a
source involved with the investigation. In the resulting chaos, he apparently
swam toward victims in another vehicle in an attempt to render assistance,
the source said.
Hausmann's body was recovered late on Thursday morning, according
to the Hennepin County medical examiner.
Divers found the remains of two other people, Hennepin County
Sheriff Rich Stanek said Thursday evening. The source indicated that the other
remains were those of Sadiya Sahal, 23, of St. Paul and her 22-month-old daughter,
Hana.
While some families received grim news Thursday, police chaplains
and mental health workers began the delicate job of informing waiting families
that only partial remains of their loved ones might be recovered.
"That's difficult to try to discuss with the families. They hope
their loved ones will be recovered and they can have a burial or memorial,"
Minneapolis police Capt. Mike Martin said.
The county medical examiner, Andrew Baker, said Thursday that officials
are collecting dental records and other information from families to try
to make identifying remains easier, though he said that it may become more
difficult to positively identify remains after they have been in the water
for so many days.
Hausmann spent about three years doing missionary work in Kenya
and maintained ties to Africa, working on AIDS projects and building a church.
If he was trying to rescue someone, it would be typical of Hausmann's selflessness,
his friends and co-workers said. "Pete is the type of guy who would do anything
to help someone," said Jeff Olejnik, Hausmann's boss at Assurity River Group
in St. Paul.
Another friend echoed that sentiment. "That would be Pete," said
Gerry Fisher, a friend and former co-worker of Hausmann. "If there was a last
act of Pete on this Earth, that certainly would be consistent [with who he
was]."
Hausmann's empty van was pulled from the river on Sunday.
A Somali community leader, Abdisalam Adam, spoke to Sahal's father,
who confirmed that Hana's body had been recovered and that the medical examiner
was still trying to scientifically identify the mother's remains. On Thursday
night, a Sahal family member declined to comment, but said: "It is time for
grieving."
The death toll now stands at eight from last week's collapse.
The list of the confirmed missing now includes Christine Sacorafas, 45, of
White Bear Lake; Vera Peck, 50, and her son Richard Chit, 20, both of Bloomington;
Greg Jolstad, 45, of Mora, and Scott Sathers, 29, of Maple Grove.
Victim, wife met in Africa
Hausmann, a South Dakota native, was a devoted father, working
long hours in his job as a computer consultant at Assurity River Group but
finding time to shuttle his children to their activities, said Patrick Schreier,
a close friend of 15 years. He met his wife, Helen, in Kenya in the 1980s,
where he taught at a mission school.
"They were a family who used the dining room all the time. ...
Whenever you went over there, you would plan to stay for dinner because you
would always be invited," Schreier said.
Fisher said he didn't doubt that his friend would have helped someone
at his own peril. "When times would get tough, he was the one you would
want on the front line. ... So if he saw someone in distress, I have no doubt
at all that he would reach out and try to go that extra step, even if it
put himself at risk."
Sahal and her daughter were traveling from St. Paul to a restaurant
in the family's Toyota Highlander when she called family members to say she
was in bumper-to-bumper traffic. That was the last anyone heard from her.
Sahal was five months pregnant, expecting her second child with husband Mohamed
Sahal.
Naomi Ryman only knew Sadiya Sahal for the eight weeks she taught
her nursing-assistant classes at the International Institute. She beamed at
the June 16 graduation, which little Hana attended.
"She was a confident, bright, friendly and often smiling young
woman who seemed to be able to negotiate well between both cultures," Ryman
said.
Sahal had immigrated from Somalia in 2000, graduated from Washburn
High School and become a U.S. citizen last year.
Ryman has a handwritten essay Sahal wrote in February that talked
about how happy she was to have her driver's license and a car with which
to give rides.
"Her paragraph read: 'I am going to get a lot of opportunity in
the United States, such as education, peace and better life. I am very happy.'
"
Staff writer Bill McAuliffe contributed to this
report. Curt Brown • 612-673-4767 David Chanen • 612-673-4465
M.L. Smith • 612-673-4595
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