Piecing together Can Tho’s bridge tragedy

October 02, 2007 | 17:59

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Authorities are still piecing together the background to the Can Tho bridge collapse tragedy. Two spans of the cable-stayed bridge under construction, spanning the Mekong Delta’s Hau River, suddenly collapsed last Wednesday, killing and injuring at least 128 people.

The scale of the devastation shocked the nation and generated widespread global coverage

The section which collapsed belonged to bid package number two, including the approach road and the main bridge linking the two river banks, undertaken by a Japanese consortium comprising Taisei, Kajima and Nippon Steel.
Tran Chung, head of the State Department of Construction Quality Inspection, said it was most probable that the construction methods were responsible for the collapse.
He said the Ministry of Transport would cooperate with relevant agencies and experts to investigate how the collapse occurred and what lessons could be learnt from the disaster.
Duong Tuan Minh, general director of My Thuan Project Management Unit, said the management unit was unclear when the high-profile project, bankrolled by Japanese ODA, would be completed.
According to a work team leader, the main girders linking piers 13, 14 and 15, totalling 87 metres in length and 24m in width, which collapsed were just cast in concrete the previous day. At the time of the collapse, about 120 workers were working on the girders and 100 workers were working below. When the girders broke many of the workers were crushed.
Local hospitals were mobilised as emergency teams undertook difficult rescue missions to recover as many people as possible.
The $302 million bridge is a flagship project for the delta.
Taisei, Kajima and Nippon Steel’s bid package accounts for 70 per cent of the project.

By Giang Khanh

vir.com.vn

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