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Catastrophe

Prague bridge collapse leaves 4 injured

December 2, 2017

A pedestrian bridge linked to an island in the Czech capital has failed in a spectacular fashion. Four people have been injured, two of them seriously. The cause of the collapse was not immediately clear.

https://p.dw.com/p/2ofeJ
A helicopter flies over the place where a footbridge crashed in Prague, Czech Republic
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/K. Sulova

A pedestrian bridge collapse in Prague in the Czech Republic left four people injured on Saturday, rescuers said.

The 250-meter (820-foot) bridge spanned the Vltava River, in the north of the Czech Republic's capital, before it collapsed almost entirely.

"A 60-year-old man was put in an artificial coma and a 63-year-old woman was also taken to hospital with multiple injuries," Prague ambulance spokeswoman Jana Postova told AFP news agency.

Read more: Fatal motorway bridge collapse in Italy

"We also treated men aged 34 and 43 on the spot with less serious injuries, and we took them to hospital too," she said, adding that all four had fallen with the bridge as it collapsed around 1 p.m. (1200 UTC/GMT).

Local journalists and social media users shared images of the collapse on Twitter.

The bridge was built in 1984 and was used by pedestrians and cyclists. Czech media reported that Prague bridge authorities had complained that the bridge's 156 steel ropes were corroded.

A helicopter and fire crews were helped by amateur divers in the search for possible further victims.

Police are investigating.

Read more: Truck brings down footbridge on UK highway

aw/ng (AP, dpa, AFP)