Many people have phobias of bridges, and this shocking video shows why. Thankfully nobody was killed in this dramatic collapse, but two people in the truck were taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
The collapse occurred Sunday in Uttarakhand, a state in northern India not far from the China border. According to a report from Times Now News, a flatbed truck carrying heavy construction equipment attempted to cross the bridge on Dhapa-Milam Road, in the Lilam Johar Valley. The region is nestled deep in the Himalayas and sparsely populated, with locals quickly coming to the aid of the driver and passenger in the truck.
It's not clear just how far the truck dropped. The video above opens with the truck entering the bridge slowly, carrying a skid-steer backhoe with another person walking some distance behind. The bridge noticeably wobbles a bit as the truck moves across, but all seems well until the left side of the bridge suddenly fails. The exact failure is unknown, but it sends the truck sliding off the side before the bridge buckles in the middle.
Specific details on the gorge or the fall aren't available. Judging by the video, the truck looks like it fell approximately 30 feet. Amazingly, it remained sitting upright on the twisted bridge, though the loader it was carrying became dislodged. A fast-running stream at the bottom of the gorge can be seen in the video, making the fall even more perilous.
The truck was carrying the skid-steer for use on a 65-kilometer (40.4-mile) road construction project, connecting the small town of Milam with regions near the China border. A bridge failure like this is never a good thing, but all things considered, it certainly could have been much worse.
