Bridge collapse in Brazil leaves not less than 2 useless, dozen lacking

A bridge linking two northern states in Brazil collapsed, killing not less than two folks and leaving a dozen others lacking, police stated Monday. A sulphuric acid spill is complicating the rescue operation.

Footage obtained by native residents confirmed automobiles and vans have been crossing the Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira bridge when massive sections crumbled right into a river on Sunday.

Police working on the border of the northern states of Maranhao and Tocantins stated that eight automobiles have been lacking: 4 vans, two automobiles and two bikes. Police and Brazil’s highway division stated they began investigations on the case.

The 533-meter-long (1,748-foot-long) bridge between the cities of Estreito and Aguiarnopolis was constructed within the Sixties and is situated 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) north of the capital, Brasilia.

Magnum Coelho, a colonel on the native firefighters’ workplace, advised journalists that sending divers for rescue operations is harmful as a result of the Tocantins River could possibly be contaminated by sulfuric acid from one of many lacking vans that fell from the bridge.

The bridge collapse was amongst a number of tragedies in Brazil over the weekend. On Saturday, a crash involving a passenger bus and a truck killed dozens of individuals on a freeway in Minas Gerais, a state in southeastern Brazil. On Sunday evening, authorities confirmed the variety of deaths had risen to 41.

Local authorities stated Sunday that the truck driver fled and will face prison duty due to allegedly obese cargo that will have brought about the crash.

The Minas Gerais state’s hearth division stated that a number of folks have been taken to hospitals close to town of Teofilo Otoni. The bus had reportedly departed from Sao Paulo and was carrying 45 passengers.

Also on Sunday, not less than 10 folks died after a small airplane crashed in Gramado, a southern city widespread with vacationers. More than a dozen folks have been injured on the bottom, Brazil’s Civil Defense Agency stated.

The airplane was piloted by Luiz Claudio Galeazzi, a Brazilian businessman who was touring together with his household to Sao Paulo State. Brazil’s Civil Defense Agency stated that the airplane hit the chimney of a house after which the second flooring of a constructing earlier than crashing right into a cellphone retailer.