At least two people have died, and another 12 are missing following the collapse of a part of a bridge in northern Brazil, where four trucks, two cars, and two motorcycles were located, a police spokesperson for AFP stated. The incident occurred while a local councilor was filming the cracks that had appeared on the bridge.
Four trucks, two cars, and two motorcycles were on the section of the bridge that collapsed on Sunday between the Brazilian states of Maranhão (northeast) and Tocantins (north).
Two of the trucks were transporting sulfuric acid, which „complicated the search” for the missing individuals due to a possible „toxic” water contamination, law enforcement announced.
Search operations were interrupted on Monday morning, but firefighters were looking for a way to resume them.
The water supply in the region has been suspended.
The causes of the bridge collapse are still unknown, but initial information from the Brazilian National Department of Transport Infrastructure indicates that the central beam of the bridge collapsed.
The Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira Bridge, which is 500 meters long and was built in the 1960s, is the main link between the states of Maranhão and Tocantins.
Over the weekend, two other bloody accidents occurred in Brazil.
On Saturday, 41 people died in a bus accident in the state of Minas Gerais (southeast) after a truck’s trailer detached and hit a bus.
On Sunday, ten members of a family died in the crash of their small plane in a commercial area in the tourist city of Gramado, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (south).