Fifteen injured in bridge collapse on Second Freeway

Fifteen people were injured yesterday when a bridge construction project on the central section of the Second Freeway, between Nantou (南投) and Changhua (彰化), collapsed.

Investigators are still unclear what caused the 205m section to topple over, landing on a provincial highway below.

At the time of the collapse, nearly 40 workers were on top of the bridge. Many were cut, pierced or injured by steel rebar in the accident.

Eighty meters of the collapsed section fell on top of Fang-Tsao Road (芳草路), a major transportation link between Nantou's Tsaotun Village (南投草屯鎮) and Changhua's Fenyuan Township (彰化芬園鄉). Passengers in two cars passing under the bridge at the time of the accident were also injured. Their automobiles were nearly crushed by the bridge and rebar that fell on top of them.

One of the automobile passengers, surnamed Huang, said the bridge collapsed as he was passing beneath it. "I had no idea what was going on," he said.

Twelve Thai laborers, one Taiwanese construction supervisor and two automobile passengers were injured in the accident. Most of the injured were rushed off to three nearby hospitals. There were no fatalities, and all of the injured were in stable condition, doctors said.

Investigators believe that heavy rains the night before may have caused one of the bridge's cement pillars, which is in the middle of a river bed, to collapse. The collapse of that pillar may have triggered a domino-like collapse of other portions of the bridge.

Such accidents in Taiwan are not uncommon. In August last year, the Kaoping Bridge in southern Taiwan collapsed when its cement supports gave way, injuring 22 people. Strong water currents and the illegal removal of gravel from the riverbed had contributed to the erosion of the bridge's foundation.

It was unclear if similar factors had contributed to yesterday's accident.