At least two killed after Taiwan bridge collapses into bay
Four people, all foreigners, missing and believed to be trapped on fishing boat
Twelve people sent to hospital, six with serious injuries
Associated Press
Published: 5:06am, 2 Oct, 2019
Rescue personnel near the collapsed bridge in Nanfangao, Taiwan, on Tuesday. Photo: AFP
A towering arch bridge over a bay in eastern Taiwan collapsed on Tuesday morning, leaving at least two people dead and sending a burning oil tanker truck falling onto boats in the water below.
The seriously injured driver was immediately rescued from the burning vehicle and sent to hospital, according to the National Fire Agency. Nine guest workers on damaged fishing boats were pulled from the water and were being treated in hospital, the agency added.
Soon after 11.20pm on Tuesday, the bodies of two workers trapped in a boat were found, the agency said. The rescue team continued to look for four people possibly trapped in boats.
Two rescuers from the coastguard were also injured and sent to the hospital, it added.
An air force helicopter, fishing vessels and more than 60 military personnel including divers were searching for possible victims. Four people, all foreigners, were missing and believed trapped on one of the fishing boats, the National Fire Agency said.
Interior Minister Hsu Kuo-yung told reporters that five people were feared to have been on the bridge when it collapsed.
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The 140-metre-long (460-foot-long) bridge collapsed at about 9.30am in Nanfangao, a tiny but often-crowded Pacific coast fishing village.
The weather at the time was sunny, but the collapse occurred hours after a typhoon swept by the island. Disaster relief officials would not say if the storm had weakened the bridge or give other details on the cause. Government-run Central News Agency said a bridge pier may have collapsed.
An arch bridge collapsed in Nanfangao, Taiwan, on Tuesday, sending a burning oil tanker truck falling onto boats in the water below. Photo: Taiwan's Military News Agency via AP
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Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said she hoped all government departments would do everything possible to save people and “keep the number of deaths and injuries as low as possible”, CNA reported.
National Fire Agency spokesman Su Hong-wei said the oil tanker truck’s fall smashed three fishing boats. It also set off a fire on the truck, but it did not spread beyond the vehicle.
Rescuers have removed one of the boats from under the collapsed bridge and are still working on the two others, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday evening.
Of the 12 people hospitalised, six are Filipinos and three are Indonesians, the agency said. People from both countries regularly work on fishing boats registered in Taiwan, where pay is better than in their home countries.
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said late on Tuesday that it had immediately notified both the Philippines’ and Indonesia’s representatives in Taiwan of the accident.
The centre of Typhoon Mitag passed east of Taiwan on Monday night and early Tuesday, but the outer winds gusting up to 137km/h (85mph) affected the island before the storm moved to the northeast.
The storm injured 12 people, felled trees, damaged vehicles and caused power outages around the island.
Boats were damaged after a bridge collapsed in Nanfangao, Taiwan on Tuesday. Photo: Ministry of National Defence via AP
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Nanfangao Bridge is a tourist attraction in Yilan. It was opened in 1998 and was built to replace a lower bridge that prevented large fishing vessels from passing underneath.
According to the company that designed the 18-metre-high (nearly 60-feet-high) bridge, MAA Consultants, it is the only single-span arch bridge in Taiwan supported by cables and the second single arch-cable steel bridge in the world.
Video footage on Twitter showed a large truck almost getting across the bridge and then tumbling backwards as the structure collapsed into the water.
Additional reporting by dpa
