Truck breaks bridge, falls into river in Shariatpur

A truck loaded with goods, has fallen into Kirtinasha River after breaking a bridge on Thursday in Rajganj Sadar Upazila of Shariatpur. Heavy vehicles were banned from using the bridge. The truck was carrying a 25 ton transformer, when the accident took place. Residents from seven Unions of Shariatpur and some Unions Madaripur are suffering because of it. The bridge has suffered damages, for the third time in a year. As a result all kinds of vehicles have to go 10-12 km extra, to connect to an alternate road. The 105 metre long concrete bridge was built by Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), back in 2008. The bridge became vulnerable as it had flaws in the time of construction. In 2015, the bridge suffered damages for the first time, as the connecting road in the west side of it collapsed due to heavy currents of water. At that time the local people with the help of LGED set up a bailey bridge to the affected road, to connect it to the main bridge, as a temporary solution. The Fire Service men of Shariatpur are supervising the place at the moment and no concerned authorities of LGED have visited the scene yet. Assistant Director of Shariatpur Fire Service and Civil Defence Niaz Ahmed said: “It is not possible to recover the truck without a heavily powered crane.” This bridge has been damaged for the second time in six months. We have informed the authority multiple times to fix the issues but it seems that they are giving a deaf ear to it,” said Tulashar UP Chairman, Zahidul Islam Fakir.