Kansas City Skywalk Disaster - 30 Years Ago

Thirty years ago this weekend, 42 people were killed and more than 80 injured at the Kansas City Hyatt, when a set of indoor bridges collapsed onto each other and then crashed onto the lobby floor.  It was a disaster of unseen proportions, as the lobby and bridges were filled with people attending the hotel's popular weekly tea dance.  Many of the 1,500 guests were there from out of town, to attend conventions scheduled to begin the next day.

About 50 people were standing on the fourth-floor walkway and about 100 people were on the second-floor walkway, with up to 200 people standing in the lobby beneath them.  The fourth floor walkway tore from its bearings and crushed the second one, tearing it down.  Then both bridges crashed onto the lobby floor.  Investigations revealed that critical changes to the bridges' designs made the tragedy unavoidable.

Read more about the disaster and efforts to finally commemorate the lives of the victims:  http://skywalk.kansascity.com/articles/sections/disaster/