Overloaded truck breaks bridge in Saigon, no deaths reported

A small truck and a motorbike fell into a canal on Friday night when a bridge collapsed in Ho Chi Minh City’s outlying district of Nha Be.

Three people, including two in the truck and one on the motorbike, jumped out of their vehicles just in time to save their lives.

Police stayed up all night searching for other possible victims around the suspension bridge that runs across Long Kieng Canal on Le Van Luong Street but have found nothing so far.

 

 

Overloaded truck breaks bridge in Saigon, no deaths reported

Saigon bridge collapse sends truck and bike into canal, no death reported

According to the police, the bridge has a loading capacity of only 3.5 tons but the truck weighed up to 15 tons in total when it crossed the bridge around 10 p.m. on Friday.

Locals living near the bridge said the truck in the accident used to cross it regularly to transport building materials for an ongoing project on the other side of the canal.

As the bridge, which stretched 105 meters (344 feet) long and 3 meters wide, had been seriously deteriorating, locals had warned truck drivers many times but no one listened.

The motorbike is stuck on the bridge. Photo by VnExpress/Viet Anh

The bridge had already been seriously damaged before, in September, 2015, when it was hit by a barge carrying sand.

Local authorities have planned to spend VND436 billion ($19.2 million) rebuilding the bridge starting this year but they have hit at wall with site clearance.

Police are working with the truck driver to investigate the case further.