Failures
Brazil Bridge Span Collapses, Killing at Least One With More Missing
Firefighters had to pause search efforts for the missing due to a potential sulfuric acid leak from a truck that fell into the Tocantins River during the collapse.
Photos courtesy Maranhao Military Fire Brigade
Brazil’s Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira Bridge partially collapsed Dec. 22, killing at least one person and leaving 14 others missing. One other person has been rescued.
The center span of the 533-m-long reinforced concrete bridge fell at about 2:40 p.m. local time, according to Brazil’s National Dept. of Transport Infrastructure. Officials have not yet identified a cause.
The two-lane bridge carries highway BR-226 over the Tocantins River to connect the communities of Aguiarnopolis and Estreito. The structure dates to the 1960s.
A local city official, Elias Junior, said on social media that he was recording a video about the bridge’s condition at the time and coincidentally caught part of the collapse. The video appears to show a smaller failure near one end of the bridge, and then dust can be seen rising in the distance.
National Dept. of Transport Infrastructure engineers are checking the remaining portions of the bridge to see if they are also at risk of collapse.
Firefighters said they had to pause their search in the water on Dec. 23 because of a suspected sulfuric acid leak from a tanker truck that fell into the river during the collapse. They were also warning people downstream to avoid the water. Reuters reported two trucks, a car and a motorcycle fell in the collapse.
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