British-era bridge collapses in MP, no fatality reported

Bhopal, April 11 (IANS) A British-era bridge built on Nagpur-Bhopal highway collapsed on Sunday, leading to hours long traffic snarl on the busy road. No fatalities were reported in the incident.As per the official information, the bridge collapsed at the moment when a multi-axle lorry loaded with around 130 tonnes of weight (electric machines) was crossing over it. Before the lorry could be crossed, a portion of it collapsed leaving the lorry hanging and heavy machines fell on the dry Sukthwa river. Over 50 meters long bridge, built over Sukthwa river in Narmadapuram (Hoshangabad) district was constructed during the British-era (around 1865) at the height of 25 feet above from the river. It is believed that the bridge was constructed to provide connectivity from Nagpur to Bhopal.The incident took place when a 138-wheel lorry was crossing the narrow bridge, leading to the vehicle falling on the dry river bed, Additional Superintendent of Police Awadhesh Pratap Singh told the press."The driver complained of some minor injury to the spleen but he left the spot soon after. Five more people who fell along with the vehicle are fine. The multi-axle lorry was bringing transformers from Hyderabad to Itarsi in Narmadapuram," Singh added.The multi-axle lorry that caused the collapse of the bridge heading coming from Hyderabad and was heading toward Itarsi to deliver heavy electrical machines.It said that the bridge collapsed due to heavy load on the vehicle, but it could have been a major fatality had it collapsed during the crossing of vehicles carrying passengers as nearly 1000 vehicles including buses travel daily between Bhopal to Nagpur.Over IANS' query regarding the permissible weight allowed on the bridge and if any inspection was carried out recently, an officer in the state government said he would be able to respond after getting reports from the concerned department.
--IANS pd/shs

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