SÃO PAULO –
A bridge linking two northern Brazilian states collapsed, killing at least two people and leaving a dozen others missing, police said Monday. A sulfuric acid spill complicates rescue operations.
Footage obtained by local residents showed cars and trucks crossing the Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira Bridge when large sections collapsed into a river on Sunday.
Police operating on the border of the northern states of Maranhao and Tocantins said eight vehicles were missing: four trucks, two cars and two motorcycles. Brazil’s police and highway department said they have launched investigations into the case.
The 533-meter (1,748-foot) long bridge between the cities of Estreito and Aguiarnópolis was built in the 1960s and is located 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) north of the capital, Brasilia.
Magnum Coelho, colonel of the local fire department, told reporters that sending divers for rescue operations is dangerous because the Tocantins River could be contaminated by sulfuric acid from one of the missing trucks that fell from the bridge.
The bridge collapse was one of several tragedies in Brazil over the weekend. On Saturday, an accident between a passenger bus and a truck killed dozens of people on a highway in Minas Gerais, a state in southeastern Brazil. On Sunday night, authorities confirmed that the death toll had risen to 41.
Local authorities said Sunday that the truck driver is at large and could face criminal liability due to the alleged overweight load that may have caused the accident.
The Minas Gerais state fire department said several people were taken to hospitals near the city of Teófilo Otoni. The bus had reportedly left Sao Paulo and was carrying 45 passengers.
Also on Sunday, at least 10 people died after a small plane crashed in Gramado, a southern city popular with tourists. More than a dozen people were injured on the ground, Brazil’s Civil Defense Agency said.
The plane was piloted by Luiz Claudio Galeazzi, a Brazilian businessman who was traveling with his family to the state of Sao Paulo. Brazil’s Civil Defense Agency said the plane hit the chimney of a house and then the second floor of a building before crashing into a cellphone store.
