Workers plunge to their deaths in Bogota
Bridge under construction in Andes mountains collapses over a 275-metre gorge
BOGOTA— A bridge under construc- tion in a mountainous region of central Colombia has collapsed, throwing 10 workers about 275 metres to their deaths.
The victims had been doing drainage work Monday on the Chirijara bridge, a 450-metre-long structure over a gorge about an hour’s drive from Villavicencio, on the highway to the capital, Bogota.
Nine of those who fell died immediately, and the 10th died of his injuries after being taken to a hospital.
Coviandes, the company carrying out the work, published the names of the nine who died at the site and said that others wounded in the collapse were being treated.
The National Infrastructure Agency of Colombia said it was investigating the cause. About 80 metres of the bridge was still incomplete when it collapsed.
The bridge was intended as an im- provement to the highway linking Bogota and Villavicencio. The picturesque route crosses the tropical northern Andes, with a series of sharp bends and vertiginous drops.
The same route was the scene of a landslide in 1974 that claimed at least 200 lives.