Nine dead and five injured after partially-built bridge collapses in Colombia
At least nine construction workers were killed and five injured after a partially-constructed bridge collapsed in Colombia.
The bridge was due to be part of a highway connecting Colombia’s capital Bogota and the city of Villavicencio but collapsed into a canyon below on Monday.
An official from the country’s disaster response agency confirmed that at least nine people had died and five injured.
One worker who witnessed the collapse told El Tiempo newspaper: “Everyone started shouting that the bridge was falling, I didn’t have time to do anything and then I felt a blow to my head.”
The 450m bridge, in Chirajara on the border of Cundinamarca and Meta provinces, was not yet open to the public.
Reinaldo Romero, head of disaster response for Meta province, told Reuters the cause of the collapse was under investigation.
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He said:”Up to now there are nine dead and five injured. We are doing a check to rule out other victims.”
Transportation Minister German Cardona visited rescue staff on the ground with Dimitri Zaninovich, the head of the national infrastructure agency and reportedly described the incident as a “tragedy”.
Coviandes, the company behind the project, is said to have issued a statement on Monday promising to do everything it can to help the families of the victims.
