Construction workers killed in bridge collapse in Colombia
Construction workers killed in bridge collapse in Colombia

 

Ten construction workers have been killed and five injured when a partially-constructed bridge collapsed in central Colombia.

The bridge, located in Chirajara on the border of Cundinamarca and Meta provinces, was to be part of the highway that connects the capital Bogota and the city of Villavicencio, and was not yet in public use. The bridge was around 446m long.

The cause of the collapse, which sent pieces of the bridge down into a canyon below, is under investigation, Reinaldo Romero, head of disaster response for Meta province, told Reuters.

“Up to now there are nine dead and five injured,” Romero said. “We are doing a check to rule out other victims.”

Nine people died at the scene of the collapse and a 10th victim died in hospital. “The victims are construction workers who were working on the project’s drainage,” the Colombian Civil Defense said in a statement, CNN reported.

“We are still working to verify the total number of people who were working at the time.” A search and rescue mission is underway.

In an official tweet President Juan Manuel Santos said: “All my solidarity with relatives of the victims”.

Transportation Minister German Cardona flew over the site of the collapse and visited rescue staff on the ground with Dimitri Zaninovich, the head of the national infrastructure agency.