Bridge collapse in Vietnam kills 60 workers

At least 60 workers are thought to be dead and 100 others missing after a bridge under construction collapsed in southern Vietnam.

Police said about 100 workers had been under the section of the 1.7 mile bridge where scaffolding collapsed at around 8.30 (1.30 GMT) this morning. A further 150 were thought to have been on the bridge’s surface.

Vietnamese television showed footage of the collapsed concrete and steel structure in Can Tho City and said people were trapped under the rubble.

The cause of the accident was unknown but the country’s state-owned television reported that heavy rain may have softened the foundation.

Most of the workers were thought to be Vietnamese but a contractor with China State Construction Engineering Corp, one of the firms involved in the project, said some Filipino and Japanese workers were unaccounted for.

Officials in Can Tho said about 250 engineers and workers from three Japanese contractors – Taisei Corp, Kajima Corp, and Nippon Steel Engineering Co Ltd – were on the site at the time of the collapse.