Four die, many missing after busy suspension bridge comes crashing down

A SUSPENSION bridge in Indonesia’s east Kalimantan province collapsed, killing four people with around 40 missing, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said yesterday.

Officials say repairmen were tightening bolts at dusk on Saturday on the ten-year-old bridge when a steel support cable snapped and it came crashing down.

Thirty-nine people were injured after the bridge spanning the Mahakam river, the longest in Indonesia’s part of Borneo island, collapsed with several cars and motorcycles on it.

Four bodies were pulled from the Mahakam river, including a six-month-old baby, and 19 people were rushed to the hospital with injuries, said police Captain Syafii Nafsikin.

Many people – including six of the repair workers – were missing.

“Everyone was screaming,” said eyewitness Syaiful, who like many Indonesians uses only one name. “Survivors were swimming to the shore in panic.”

The 700-metre structure, built to resemble the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, linked the mining towns of Tenggarong and Samarinda.