Deadliest bridge collapses over past 20 years

PARIS: The collapse of a motorway bridge on Tuesday in Italy’s northwestern port city of Genoa is the most deadly of its kind in Europe since 2001.

Here is a recap of some previous bridge collapses over the past two decades which have left at least 20 dead or missing around the world.

2016: 26 dead in Kolkata –

In March in India, the collapse of a flyover onto a busy street in the city of Kolkata kills at least 26 people. Rescue workers pull out nearly 100 people injured under huge concrete slabs and metal.

2011: Catastrophes in India –

In October in India at least 32 people are killed when a bridge packed with festival crowds collapses in northeast India, about 20 miles (30 kilometres) from the hill town of Darjeeling.

Less than a week later around 30 people are killed when a footbridge over a river in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh collapses.

2007: Nepal and China –

In August in China at least 64 workers are killed when a river bridge in central Hunan province collapses as they are completing its construction.

In Nepal in December at least 16 people are killed and 25 missing after a bridge crowded with religious pilgrims collapses in the west of the country. At the time of the accident nearly 400 people were said to have been on the bridge across a gorge over the Bheri River, 380 kilometres (240 miles) west of the capital Kathmandu. As many as 100 people managed to swim to safety.

2006: Pakistan and India –

In August in Pakistan at least 40 people die as monsoon rains wash away a bridge at Mardan, 50 kilometres from Peshawar in the northwest of the country.

In December in India at least 34 people die as a 150-year-old bridge collapses on a passenger train in the railway station in the eastern state of Bihar.

2003: India and Bolivia –

In August in India 20 people, including 19 children die when a bridge falls into a river near Mumbai, making a school bus and four other vehicles fall into the river.

In December in Bolivia at least 29 people die as floods wash away a road bridge as a bus is crossing it.

2001: 58 dead in Portugal –

In March in Portugal 58 people die when a century-old road bridge collapses, causing a coach and three cars to fall into the Douro river, near the northern city of Porto.

1999: 40 killed near Chongqing –

In January in China a 180-metre (590-foot) long-bridge collapses near the southwestern town of Chongping, due to several structural faults, killing 40 people.

1998: Peru bridge carried away –

In March in Peru at least 26 people are killed or missing when a 200-metre-long bridge collapses and is carried away by the overflowing Piura river in the north.