Bridge collapse kills 10 in Colombia

Bogota, Jan 16 : At least 10 people were killed on Monday when a bridge under construction in central Colombia collapsed.

Another two people were missing and four others were injured when the structure fell along a tract of a highway that links the capital Bogota with the nearby city of Villavicencio, officials said, Xinhua reported.

Jorge Diaz, director of Civil Defense for the department of Meta, said the victims were construction workers who fell from a height of approximately 280 meters. Some 20 workers were on the bridge at the time of the accident.

“Ten people are dead. Nine died at the site of the accident and one was taken to a hospital, where he died,” Diaz told local media.

Video footage posted to the Caracol News website showed what appeared to be half of the bridge still standing, while the other half had plummeted into the gully below.

The bridge was just 20 meters away from completion, a Caracol News anchor said.

IANS