BRASÍLIA (AFP) – The death toll after a bridge collapse in northern Brazil increased to 10, authorities said.
The Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira bridge, which connects the states of Maranhao and Tocantins, collapsed last Sunday, sending vehicles and their occupants plunging into the water below.
The Brazilian Navy had been conducting rescues in the area, finding an additional body six kilometres from the accident site and a second victim on Friday in the Tocantins River.
“As such, there are 10 dead and seven missing victims so far,” the navy said in a statement.
More than 70 rescuers continued the search nearly a week after the collapse, using a hyperbaric chamber to allow divers to search depths of more than 30 metres.
On Tuesday, Brazilian authorities had warned the Tocantins River could have been contaminated with sulfuric acid being transported by two trucks that tumbled into the water.
A third truck involved in the accident was carrying pesticides.
A spokesperson for the fire department later told AFP that the tanks of all three trucks were “intact” after the collapse.
The danger from those chemicals, however, had slowed rescue and body-recovery operations for days while water analyses and inspections of the trucks’ chemical tank trailers were carried out.
The bridge, initially constructed in the 1960s, measured roughly 500 metres long. The causes of the collapse were being investigated, but officials said initial indications were that the central beam of the bridge gave way.
