ZCZC
BFF-47
FRANCE-BRIDGE-COLLAPSE
Overly heavy truck may have caused deadly French bridge collapse: official
MIREPOIX-SUR-TARN, France, Nov 19, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The deadly collapse of
a bridge spanning a river in the south of France may have been caused by a
lorry weighing twice the maximum limit allowed, an local official said
Tuesday.
Early on Monday, the bridge detached from suspension cables and plunged
into the river Tarn, resulting in the deaths of a 15-year-old girl and a
truck driver.
“We think that the truck weighed over 40 tonnes. The lorry was well over
the limit and the bridge broke,” the mayor of the town of Mirepoix-sur-Tarn
north of Toulouse, Eric Oget, told AFP.
The bridge, which was built in 1931, could take a maximum weight of 19
tonnes. It had passed recent safety inspections.
France’s junior environment minister Emmanuelle Wargon confirmed that “one
of the theories is that truck went on the bridge with a weight exceeding the
maximum”.
“But it is the state prosecutor who will establish the facts,” she added,
speaking to LCI TV.
The girl was travelling in the car with her mother, who was plucked from
the water by bystanders.
The truck driver’s body was found after a day-long search by more than 60
rescue workers, including divers.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1716 hrs