A Japanese-funded bridge under construction in southern Vietnam
collapsed yesterday, killing up to 60 workers and injuring around
150 in the country's worst such disaster.
One police officer reached by telephone said as many as 100
could be dead or missing.
TV news bulletins showed footage of a mass of tangled steel and
concrete at the scene, and emergency workers in white uniforms
taking bloodied victims into hospitals for treatment.
"It is total chaos here," said Tran Thanh Quang, director of
military hospital 112 in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, where
most victims were being treated.
At least 150 people were being treated for injuries and
hospitals were running out of beds, officials said. Doctors and
nurses were sent from Ho Chi Minh City, 170 km away, to help.
Official media said the collapse of a section of bridge on land
next to the Hau River was the worst bridge accident in Vietnam,
which is ramping up infrastructure projects to keep pace with an
economy growing at more than 8 percent a year.
Most of the dead and injured were Vietnamese. The Japanese
embassy in Hanoi said it had not confirmed yet whether or not any
Japanese were on site at the time of the 8:30 AM (9:30 AM, Beijing
time) collapse when about 250 workers were on the bridge.
The bridge is being built to link Can Tho and Vinh Long province
over the heavily used river, one of nine tributaries of the Mekong
River.
A police official in Vinh Long said he saw 36 bodies.
"They are using machinery to cut and lift the concrete," the
police official said by telephone. "It is very difficult to reach
the bodies and there is also danger of further collapse."
Japanese companies started building the bridge in 2004 with
Japan government aid of US$300 million. It was to be finished next
year and have a span of 2.75 km.
Three Japanese contractors - Taisei Corp, Kajima Corp and Nippon
Steel Engineering Co Ltd - were on site yesterday.
(China Daily September 27, 2007)
