Bridge Collapse, An Accident Waiting To
Happen
The bridge collapse Thursday morning,
killing five people, between Turrubares and
Orotina, had been a source of complaint by
area residents, with at least two formal
complaints made to the Ministerio de Obras
Públicas y Transportes (MOPT), which
recently placed a concrete frame at the
entrance of the bridge to stop heavy
vehicles from crossing.
The driver of the bus containing 38
passengers said Thursday that he crossed the
bridge over the Tárcoles river on a regular
basis, for unkown reasons, did not follow
protocol by letting off passengers before
crossing the bridge and picking them up at
the other side.
What the driver did not know is that,
according to the MOPT minister, Karla
González, the bridge had been damaged the
day earlier by a heavy truck who ran into
the concrete frame and while backing up from
the entrance to the bridge, caused damage to
one or more cables holding up the
suspension.
Thursdays accident, according to some
witnesses, was just an accident to happen.
Thursday morning, officials of the MOPT and
the Consejo Nacional de Vialidad (CONAVI)
scurried to place signs to warn of the
danger of the bridge, but the bridge had
already collapsed.
Earlier reports indicated seven people had
died from accident. However, by Thursday
night, one of the women who was believed to
have died, was recuperating in hospital,
along with her three year old daughter, who
had also been believed dead.
The majority of the passengers on the bus
were either on their way to work or mothers
and their children on the way to school.
Authorities say that the cause of the
accident is based on main factor that the
bus was overweight. Weighing at 5.5 tonnes
it crossed a bridge that had a maximum
weight limit of 4 tonnes.
According to legal expert, Juan Diego
Castro, the bus operator and the driver may
be found liable for criminal homicide, the
driver admitting he knew the danger but
crossed the bridge regularly in any event.
A number of the survivors of the accident
blame the ministra del MOPT, for abandoning
their needs of safe transportation in the
area.
  
 
The five victims of the tragic accident
Sign that officials were to have erected at
the bridge
before its collapse Thursday morning.
Artist rendering of the accident.
Fotos and renderings courtesy of Diario
Extra. |
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Crossing Bridges In Costa Rica Is A Lottery
Crossing many bridges in Costa Rica,
especially the handing bridges that are
common in the rural areas, is playing the
lottery, you never know when you will the
next victim, like the seven that lost their
lives this morning in Turrubares, when the
bus they were riding in plunged through the
boards and into the Tárcoles river.
Víctor Salas Vega, driver of the bus
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