Lorry may be to blame for 2 deaths
French gendarmes close a road near a suspension bridge which collapsed on Monday in Mirepoix-sur-Tarn, near Toulouse, southwest France.
The deadly collapse of a bridge spanning a river in the south of France may have been caused by a lorry weighing twice the maximum limit allowed, a local official said on Tuesday.
Early on Monday, the bridge detached from suspension cables and plunged into the river Tarn, resulting in the deaths of a 15-year-old girl and a truck driver.
“We think that the truck weighed over 40 tons. The lorry was well over the limit and the bridge broke,” said Eric Oge, the mayor of the town of Mirepoix-sur-Tarn, north of Toulouse.
The bridge, which was built in 1931, could take a maximum weight of 19 tons. It had passed recent safety inspections.
France’s junior environment minister Emmanuelle Wargon confirmed that “one of the theories is that truck went on the bridge with a weight exceeding the maximum.”
