Truck carrying sulfuric acid falls into river: at least two dead and 12 missing after bridge collapses in Brazil

Le pont a été construit dans les années 1960. Capture d'écran X

At least two people have died and 12 are missing after a bridge collapsed in northern Brazil, a police spokesman told AFP on Monday.

At least two people have died and 12 are missing after a bridge collapsed in northern Brazil, a police spokesman told AFP on Monday.

Four trucks, two cars and two motorcycles were on the section of the bridge that collapsed Sunday afternoon, between the Brazilian states of Maranhão (northeast) and Tocantins (north), according to the authorities.

Two of the trucks were carrying sulfuric acid, which “complicates the search” for the missing due to the possible contamination “toxic” of the water, said a spokesman for the police.

Search operations were suspended Monday morning but firefighters were looking for a way to resume them. Water supplies to the area have been cut off.

The bridge is over 500 meters long

The Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira Bridge, more than 500 meters long and built in the 1960s, is the main connecting route between Maranhão and Tocantins.

The The causes of the collapse are still unknown, although initial evidence from the National Department of Transport Infrastructure shows that the central beam collapsed.

In addition Following the collapse, Brazil suffered two other serious fatal accidents last weekend. On Saturday morning, 41 people died in a bus accident in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais after the cargo of 'a truck broke away and hit a bus.

Then, on Sunday, ten members of the same family died when their small plane crashed on a commercial area of ​​the tourist city of Gramado, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in the south of the country.