One killed, 9 injured in bridge collapse

One person was today killed and nine others were injured when an under construction steel suspension bridge over river Tuipui in south Mizoram's Lunglei district collapsed.
Lunglei District Additional SP Stephen Lalrinawma told PTI over phone that the bridge collapsed at around 1 pm and one of the injured died at the government hospital in nearby Hnahthial town.
He said the condition of five injured persons is stated to be serious while that of one is described as 'very serious'.
Though there has been no investigation by technical persons, the bridge seems to have collapsed after the main string slipped from the base, Lalrinawma said.

State Public Works department officials said the contractor of the bridge is Kolkata-based Guha Niyogi and Associates which began the construction on November 19, 2012 and was scheduled to be completed on November 18, 2013.
The work, however dragged on and the time for completion of the work was postponed three times and the last schedule date for completion was fixed on December 20, 2014.
The officials said that out of the contract amount of Rs 252.75 lakh, the government had paid Rs 212.17 lakh to the contractor till date.
Earlier, a Bailey bridge over river Tlawng between Aizawl and the lone Lengpui airport collapsed on October 31 which again collapsed last Monday while engineers were trying to restore the bridge.