World

Deadliest bridge collapses over past 20 years

The collapse of a motorway bridge on Tuesday in Italy's northwestern port city of Genoa is the most deadly of its kind in Europe

AFP
August 14, 2018
Deadliest bridge collapses over past 20 years
A third of the I-40 bridge fell after a towboat pushed a barge into a support in Webbers Falls, Oklahoma. The incident had occurred on May 26, 2002. Photo: CNN

PARIS: The collapse of a motorway bridge on Tuesday in Italy's northwestern port city of Genoa is the most deadly of its kind in Europe since 2001.

Here is a recap of some previous bridge collapses over the past two decades which have left at least 20 dead or missing around the world.

2016: 26 dead in Kolkata

In March in India, the collapse of a flyover onto a busy street in the city of Kolkata kills at least 26 people. Rescue workers pull out nearly 100 people injured under huge concrete slabs and metal.

2011: Catastrophes in India

In October in India at least 32 people are killed when a bridge packed with festival crowds collapses in northeast India, about 20 miles (30 kilometres) from the hill town of Darjeeling.

Less than a week later around 30 people are killed when a footbridge over a river in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh collapses.

2007: Nepal and China

In August in China at least 64 workers are killed when a river bridge in central Hunan province collapses as they are completing its construction.

In Nepal in December at least 16 people are killed and 25 missing after a bridge crowded with religious pilgrims collapses in the west of the country. At the time of the accident nearly 400 people were said to have been on the bridge across a gorge over the Bheri River, 380 kilometres (240 miles) west of the capital Kathmandu. As many as 100 people managed to swim to safety.

2006: Pakistan and India

In August in Pakistan at least 40 people die as monsoon rains wash away a bridge at Mardan, 50 kilometres from Peshawar in the northwest of the country.

In December in India at least 34 people die as a 150-year-old bridge collapses on a passenger train in the railway station in the eastern state of Bihar.

2003: India and Bolivia

In August in India 20 people, including 19 children die when a bridge falls into a river near Mumbai, making a school bus and four other vehicles fall into the river.

In December in Bolivia at least 29 people die as floods wash away a road bridge as a bus is crossing it.

2001: 58 dead in Portugal

In March in Portugal 58 people die when a century-old road bridge collapses, causing a coach and three cars to fall into the Douro river, near the northern city of Porto.

1999: 40 killed near Chongqing

In January in China a 180-metre (590-foot) long-bridge collapses near the southwestern town of Chongping, due to several structural faults, killing 40 people.

1998: Peru bridge carried away

In March in Peru at least 26 people are killed or missing when a 200-metre-long bridge collapses and is carried away by the overflowing Piura river in the north.


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