Bridge collapses under weight of moving truck near Indo-China border

A bailey bridge nearly 50 km from the Sino-India border, collapsed when a truck carrying a JCB machine was crossing it, an official said.

The truck driver and the JCB machine operator were injured as the 40-ft-long bridge, built in 2009 in Indian state of Uttarkhand, crashed on June 22 under the combined weight of the truck and the JCB machine, Munsyari Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) AK Shukla said.

The weight-bearing capacity of the bridge was 18 tonne while the combined weight of the JCB machine and the truck was 26 tonne, he said.

The SDM said the truck driver and the JCB machine operator had been admitted to a hospital in Munsyari.

Around 15 border villages of Johar Valley have been cut off. Legal action would be taken against the truck driver, the official said.

Construction of another bridge would take at least 15 days, the SDM said.