A wooden bridge collapsed in southern Norway today. At the time of the disaster, two vehicles were passing by – a passenger car and a truck. Both drivers were rescued. The cause of the bridge collapse is not yet known.
According to the Associated Press, shortly after 7:30 a.m. local time, police received a report of a bridge collapse in Tretten, Inland County, southern Norway.
During the disaster, two vehicles passed through it – a truck and a passenger car fell into the water. The truck driver was very lucky – it got stuck in an almost vertical position on a part of the bridge that was raised at a sharp angle from the water.
A helicopter was deployed in the rescue operation. Rescuers pulled the driver from the truck cabin. The driver of the passenger car automatically got out of the vehicle.
The Norwegian Transport Minister is to visit the accident site John-Ivor Nygaard.
A nearly 150-meter-long wooden bridge connects the west bank of the Gutbrandsthalslagen river with the village of Tretten. It was opened in 2012.
A similar disaster occurred in 2016 in the town of Sjowa in the aforementioned inland district. It was only when a truck drove over the glued laminated timber bridge that it collapsed. The driver sustained minor injuries.
After this event, 11 similar bridges, including the one at Treton, Temporary closure by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration. At the time, the agency said in a statement that “defective joints in the bridge were the direct cause of the bridge collapse.”
The bridge at Treton was last inspected in 2021. No defects were found.
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