Six people had a narrow escape, when the concrete bridge connecting Chamba town in Himachal Pradesh with Pathankot in Punjab collapsed suddenly when a car, a mini truck and a bike was crossing it.
The bridge, constructed over river Ravi and situated near Pangi-Churah valley, collapsed on Friday morning. Deputy Commissioner, Chamba, Sudesh Kumar Mokhta said no casualty had been reported from the accident spot.
A car and mini truck present over the bridge went down along with the bridge.
The bridge sank in from the middle and fell apart in two parts. The tragedy could have been bigger had there been heavy traffic on the bridge at the time of collapse. Even the water flow in river was comparatively little at this time of the year.
The Deputy Commissioner visited the accident site and looked after the rescue of the injured. Mokhta said that the reasons for the mishap were yet to be ascertained but it seems that the flaws in construction might have been the cause of the mishap.
He said the use of substandard construction material and tampering with the approved map might have been the reason.
He said a probe had been ordered to find out the cause of the accident. The bridge was constructed in 2005 under a project of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and was constructed at a cost of Rs 5 crore.
The traffic to Pangi-Churah Valleh had to be diverted to alternative routes after the accident.
Hamirpur MP, Anurag Thakur expressing concern over the mishap, said that people have suffered loss due to collapse of the bridge which is just 12 year old. He demanded a high level probe in the mishap.