VIDEO: Two rescued as Norway bridge collapses: Police

 

 - 

A wood and steel bridge over a river collapsed in southern Norway on Monday as a car and a truck were crossing, but police said they had rescued both drivers.

The car plunged into the river while the truck remained on the bridge in a nearly vertical position on a section that was raised at a steep angle out of the water.A helicopter assisted in the rescue operation and pulled out the truck driver, police said. The driver of the car managed to get out of his vehicle by himself.

The nearly 150-metre-long (500-foot-long) bridge opened in 2012 and had been checked in 2021.The Norwegian Public Roads Administration said it wanted an independent investigation into the collapse.

Following that collapse, 11 similar bridges, including the one in Tretten, were temporarily closed by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration. The agency said in a report about the 2016 collapse that “the direct cause of the bridge collapse is a defective joint in the framework.”