Indonesia bridge collapse: Nine killed and teen missing after tragedy on island of Sumatra

A Disaster Mitigation Agency rescue team prepares to search for victims
AP
Bronwen Weatherby20 January 2020

At least nine people were killed when a footbridge over a river in Indonesia collapsed over the weekend, officials have said.

The bridge, on the island of Sumatra, broke on Sunday while it was packed with people, and several fell into the flooded river below and drowned by the strong currents.

A 14-year-old boy is still missing and feared dead.

Reports suggest a crowd of around 30 people, mostly teenage students, were gathered on the bridge and it could have fallen under the weight.

The young people are believed to have just returned from a tour at a nearby hydropower plant and stopped on the footbridge to take photos of the extreme flow of the river.

The death toll has risen to nine since the bridge collapsed on Sunday
AP

Seventeen people were rescued from the site, in the province of Bengkulu, where the country's disaster mitigation agency has launched a rescue effort.

Disaster agency spokesman, Agus Wibowo, said: "They were watching the floods in the river below and then the bridge snapped, so they fell into the overflowing river.

"Since last night, the regional disaster mitigation agency, the military, the police, related organisations, and volunteers had been searching for the missing."

Regional disaster official Ujang Syafiri the bridge was mostly used by farmers living nearby and added: "It was apparently (beyond) its capacity. Some teens even had rocked the bridge while joking."

He said about 20 survivors were rescued, many of them with minor injuries.

Photos released by the agency showed rescuers using an inflatable boat while they searched for victims near the broken bridge and villagers using bamboo and clothes to carry a body.

Seasonal rains in recent weeks have caused severe flooding and landslides in Indonesia. Many of the nation's nearly 270 million people live in mountainous areas prone to landslides or plains close to rivers that flood regularly. The archipelago of 17,000 islands also has frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

Additional reporting by agencies.

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