Yeshiva grad survives bridge collapse

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A former yeshiva student survived after his car plunged into the Mississippi River when a Minneapolis bridge collapsed.

Roman Koyrakh, a 20-year-old college student, was on the bridge at 6 p.m. Wednesday, when the bridge collapsed, according to a report on Vos Iz Neias, a religious news Web site. His airbag was activated, but his car hit the river and started filling with water.

“There was a loud bang, and my car buckled suddenly,” he told Vos Iz Neias in a bulletin that was distributed by his alma mater, Torah Academy in suburban Minneapolis. “Dust and smoke shot up all around and the next thing I knew I was falling, plunging headfirst,” he said. “There was water, water, everywhere.”

Fearing the end, he said the Shema prayer, but managed to free himself from his seatbelt and open the car door. He made it to dry ground and was taken to a hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries. Koyrakh credited God with his good fortune, telling the news site: “Hashem saved me. There’s no other explanation” for such miracles.

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