Construction workers killed in Colombia bridge collapse

Ten people are dead and three are injured after a partially-constructed bridge collapsed in central Colombia.

Located in Chirajara on the border of Cundinamarca and Meta provinces, the bridge was to be part of a highway connecting the capital Bogota (65 kilometres away) and the city of Villavicencio.

At around noon on Monday, local time, the structure in the Chirajara gave away, sending the construction workers on the bridge plummeting an estimated 280 metres to their deaths.

According to El Espectador newspaper, Colonel Jorge Diaz of the Civil Defense confirmed “ten people were killed, nine died at the site of the accident and one was transferred to a hospital where he died”.

The bridge was not in public use at the time of the collapse. It was expected to be delivered by the end of March and if completed would have had a length of 446 metres.