Cars plunge into river after bridge rammed by ferry collapses

A ferry crashed into a bridge pillar at the mouth of the Amazon basin in Brazil, causing a 200m span of road to plunge into the Moju River.

Witnesses said two cars fell into the water during the accident on a road leading to Para state capital Belem, one of the country’s busiest ports.

It was unknown how many people were in the cars, and fire department scuba divers were searching the river.

There were no indications of whether anyone was killed in the crash.

The state government said that the five crew on the ferry, which had been carrying agricultural waste, survived, but it had no information about any victims as about 650 feet of the half-mile bridge collapsed.

O Globo newspaper quoted an official as saying that the ferry had no authorisation to be on the river, which is in the east of the state.

State governor Helder Barbalho said: “This is a sad day with this regrettable episode.

“Right now our priority is to speed up the search for the victims and give total support to their families.”

He later tweeted from the scene to say: “We are working to provide the answers in the time needed to resolve this regrettable accident, reducing the impact on people’s lives and the inconvenience of this disruption on this very important road to our state, which interconnects strategic regions.”

Local media also reported claims that a January inspection of the bridge had found corrosion problems on the pillars.

At the time, the government did not think the problem was serious enough to close the span – but it did ask for money for emergency measures to be taken in future, the reports said.

The structure is part of a complex of bridges that span a labyrinth of rivers at the mouth of the Amazon basin to provide a road connection between many rural cities and the state capital.

Authorities said the collapse could affect shipments of produce such as soybeans and corn through northern ports.

Kory Melby, an agribusiness consultant based in the city of Goiania, said that the bridge was on the main route and added: “It will probably take years for that bridge to be rebuilt.”

The state government said it would install ramps and have barges ferry cars from one end of the broken bridge to the other while the span is rebuilt.

The governor estimated repairs and new safety measures would cost £19 million and take about a year.

Mr Barbalho also said that officials would install buffers and warning signs on the pillars of other bridges in the complex.