British-era bridge collapses as 138-wheel lorry crosses it in MP, pic surfaces

A British-era bridge on the dry Sukthwa river in Madhya Pradesh’s Narmadapuram collapsed while a lorry was crossing on Sunday, leading to traffic disruption on the Bhopal-Nagpur national highway, a senior police official said.

The incident took place when a 138-wheel lorry was crossing the narrow bridge, leading to the vehicle falling on the dry river bed, Additional Superintendent of Police Awadhesh Pratap Singh told PTI over phone, adding that there were no report of injuries.

“The driver complained of some minor injury to the spleen but he left the spot soon after. Five more people who fell along with the vehicle are fine. The multi-axle lorry was bringing transformers from Hyderabad to Itarsi in Narmadapuram,” Singh said.

Traffic was being diverted via Harda to Betul following the accident at Sukthwa, some 70 kilometres from the district headquarters, he said.

Sources said some 5,000 vehicles use the 25-foot high bridge daily.