Authorities have disclosed that two cars and a motorcycle plunged from a partially collapsed bridge in northern Colombia on Friday, killing four people and wounding three.
A traffic police chief, Julio Olaya said a section of a bridge connecting the city of Barranquilla to the airport in Soledad failed in heavy rains.
“Three people died on the scene and another later in the hospital,” he said.
Africa Today News, New York reports that authorities have closed the bridge, fearing other parts of it may also cave in, and set up alternative routes to the airport.
Meanwhile, the Colombian government has warned that the El Nino weather phenomenon would bring with it a wetter rainy season than usual in 2024.
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In another report, a bus has plunged off a bridge into a ravine and caught fire has in South Africa, leaving no fewer than 45 of the 46 people on board dead, the transport ministry has disclosed.
An eight-year-old child has been reported as the only survivor and had been taken to hospital with serious injuries.
The vehicle had been heading from neighboring Botswana to Moria in the north of the country, the ministry said in a statement
“It is alleged that the driver lost control, colliding with barriers on the bridge causing the bus to go over the bridge and hitting the ground, where it caught fire,” the statement said.
Rescue operations had continued till Friday morning with some bodies burned beyond recognition, and others trapped inside the debris or scattered over the crash scene.
The bus had a Botswana licence plate, local authorities said, but the nationalities of the passengers was still being checked.
Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga went to the scene of the crash and promised a full inquiry would be held into its cause.