Collapse of C?n Th? Bridge

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The collapse of C? N Th? Bridge was a severe construction accident in southern Vietnam in September 2007. The 90-meter section of the approach road fell more than 30 meters, killing and injuring dozens of people. The number of casualties remains unclear. Shortly after the accident one source stated that 52 people were killed and 140 wounded; other sources have shown death to be 59. Tr? n Ch'ng, head of QA/QC national development authority under Vietnam's Ministry of Construction, described it as the most devastating disaster in Vietnam's construction industry history. , which Ho Nghia Dung, Minister of Transport, agrees.

Dung apologized for the collapse of the bridge. Met with reporters on Saturday, September 29, 2007, he said, "This is the most serious problem and accidents in the workplace in the transportation sector I apologize to all the victims, victims and families."

He further stated that the primary responsibility for the collapse was with the contractor, and that he would consider resigning once the official determination of the cause of the accident was made by the relevant Vietnamese authorities.

Video Collapse of C?n Th? Bridge

C? n Th? Bridge

C? N Th? Bridge is a cable-fixed bridge over River H? U (Bassac), the largest distribution of the Mekong River. 2.75 km, the four-lane bridge is located in the BÃÆ'¬nh Minh District, V Province? Long Nh, opposite C? N Th ?, Mekong Delta, about 170 km south of Ho Chi Minh City. Prime Minister Phan V? N Kh? I launched its construction on 25 September 2004; scheduled to be completed by the end of 2008, but not open for traffic until April 2010. The bridge was built to replace the ferry system that runs along National Route 1A, connecting the Provinces of V'nh Length and C? n Th? city. Estimated construction costs are 4,832 billion vietnamese ng (approximately US $ 342.6 million). Built under the supervision of consultant Nippon Koei-Chodai, who works with Japanese contractors, including the Taisei Company, Kajima Construction and Nippon Steel. The capital for the project is provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, which received official development assistance loans from Japan Bank of International Cooperation and the Vietnamese government.

Maps Collapse of C?n Th? Bridge

Collapse

At 8am local time (GMT 7) on Wednesday, September 26, 2007, a 90-meter-high steel-and-concrete section of the approach road, which is over 30 meters above the ground, collapsed onto a small island near Vinh Long river sides. There are about 250 engineers and workers at or under the time span during collapse. Manh Hung, a construction team leader, said, "we suddenly heard a huge explosion at the head of the bridge, dust covering the big air space while the workers screamed, the scene was so horrible, all the big concrete blocks fell on the people below." Early news accounts indicate that about 50 people were killed, 100 or more wounded, and others may be trapped under the rubble.

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Rescue

Immediately after the accident, the workers at the site joined the rescue forces to dig and evacuate the wounded. Local residents, students, cadres, and 30 Japanese and Filipino volunteers also joined in the effort, while Ch? Hospital R? Y on H? ChÃÆ' Minh City sent two professional rescue teams to the site. The combined rescue efforts - including troops from the Ministry of National Defense, Public Health, and Public Security, as well as volunteers - were placed under the direction of HoÃÆ'ng Trung H? I, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Government.

Rescue efforts receive international support. The American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam sends resources located in Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore and Bangkok to C'n Th ?. The SOS International alarm center and clinic in Ho Chi Minh City sent the first response team of three doctors, nurses, interpreters and operations managers. The rescue effort was done by crane, not by the direct entrance of rescue personnel, due to the danger of collapse of the remaining part of the road. Thirty professional saviors from Japan and the Philippines were sent to the crash site to participate in the rescue effort. L? U ThÃÆ' nh ?? ng, deputy director C? N Th? The Public Transport Service (Sao Giao thÃÆ''ng CÃÆ''ng chÃÆ'¡nh ) told the BBC Vietnam that "as long as there is hope of the victims, the rescue effort will continue." Four days after the crash, on Saturday, September 29, the rescue effort was stopped, as the possibility of finding further casualties was considered very low.

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Cause of accident

Ministry of Transport and Public Security established an investigation team, led by lieutenant general Ph? M Nam TÃÆ' o, head of the Police Division of the Ministry of Public Security, to determine the cause of the collapse. Some possibilities continue:

• Reuters reported that officials said recent heavy rains may have weakened the foundation.
• Dr. Tr? N Ch? Ng, head of QA/QC national construction authority under Vietnam's Ministry of Construction, suggested that the collapse might be caused by the movement of scaffolds while concrete support - poured just for the previous two days - is not stable enough.
• Transport Minister Ho Nghia Dung said that the sinking of the scaffold, which must bear a 6000 metric ton concrete structure, may have caused the collapse; he told reporters, "... preliminary information has shown that there are signs of completion of the scaffolding foundation. "
• Other sources state that there is a landslide near the riverbank that has evacuated and damaged the scaffolding.

Long before the collapse, on January 12, Japanese construction consultant Hiroshi Kudo had recommended special measures to install temporary poles for scaffolding, and that load testing for piles had to be done in accordance with international standards and codes. According to Kudo, the scaffolding capacity, according to the detailed design proposed by the contractor, only met 15% of the required loading. He said that:

• The contractor has doubled the overload ratio of 1.15 instead of 1.25 in accordance with American standards or 1.35 in accordance with Japanese standards;
• When calculating wind strength in a temporary pile, the contractor has applied 0.5 kPa wind force, which is too low; should be 2.5 kPa. (According to NCE.co.uk, 2.5 is the coefficient for wind loading [3].)

He therefore requires contractors to repeat their temporary pile and scaffold designs.

Japanese contracting company officials flew to Vietnam and made a bow in the meeting to apologize to the victims and their families. Hayama Kanji, Chairman of Taisei Company, said in a meeting with Vietnamese authorities: "I sincerely express my deepest apologies to the people and government of Vietnam".

On March 6, 2008, Construction Minister Nguyen Hong Quan released a report containing an eight-month investigation into the accident at a press conference in Hanoi. The sinking of the bridge's emergency foundation points to the main reason for its collapse, the report said. The dipping phenomenon causes bridge support to fall, breaking two bridge spans. The report added that sinking the foundation was "an unfavorable and difficult situation to project in the design process."

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Victim

In the days immediately following the collapse of the Can Tho bridge, reports of the number of people killed, wounded and missing varied widely:

• According to Vietnam News Agency and CNN, 52 people were killed and 149 wounded.
• According to Vietnam Net, 49 bodies have been recovered and 181 people were injured.
• According to Thanh Nien and VnExpress, 37 people were killed and 87 wounded, not including those who have not recovered from the rubble.
• By Tu? i Tr? , 52 people were killed, 97 wounded and several survivors trapped in the rubble. However, the newspaper said 37 were killed on September 27, 2007.
• According to the BBC, 36 people were killed, however, Reuters quoted a Chinese subcontractor as saying 60 people were killed.
• According to Tien Phong newspaper, 59 were killed, 97 wounded and still 70 trapped under rubble.

The Vietnamese government has since established that 54 people were killed in the crash, and 80 were seriously injured.

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Memorial

The American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam has a "Monument of Performance Award" held on September 30, 2007. It is open to the public, at the HCMC Military Zone 7 Stadium, and is held to help raise funds for victims' families.. The memorial has singers like Phuong Thanh and Siu Black appearing to raise money.

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Legal action

On October 2, 2007, the Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam initiated a process to determine the responsibilities of individuals and organizations involved in the Can Tho bridge project for prosecution in accordance with Article 229 of the Criminal Code of S.R. Vietnam ("Violation of construction regulations that lead to severe consequences"). On the same day, V'nh Long Police signed a prosecution (Decision No. 29) against several subcontractors. According to local police, their investigation shows that contractors have removed scaffolding faster than ordered in detailed technical plans, which damage structures and cause "collino effects" to collapse. Several testimonies also show that subcontractors have used a poor quality scaffold that is obsolete from some previous usage.

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See also

• List of bridge failures
• The Quebec bridge, collapsed during construction on August 29, 1907, killing 76 workers

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References

src: upload.wikimedia.org

External links

• News informing of the bridge collapse:
  • MSNBC
  • FOX
  • BBC
  • novinky.cz
  • VOA
• Photos of broken bridges
  • Can Tho Bridge Photos, Ian Stacey

Source of the article : Wikipedia