VietNamNet Bridge – A barge of nearly 1000 tons suddenly hit the girders of Saigon’s Binh Loi Bridge on the way back from Binh Duong to HCM City on the evening of April 14. Many north-south trains have been stopped due to this accident.

Two months needed to repair Thi Nghe Bridge hit by barge

Nearly 90 policemen of the HCM City Fire Fight Police Department and other forces joined in the rescue, which took five hours.

Binh Loi bridge guards described an empty barge, driven by a 38-year-old man, which tried to go under the bridge at high tide. Around two-thirds of the barge had already passed under the bridge when it became stuck..

Guards reported the incident to Saigon Railway Company, which halted all trains and prevented vehicles from going through the bridge. They asked rescue forces to save the barge.

Railway workers inspected the bridge and the first train crossed the bridge again safely at 6am.

Nearly 90 policemen of the HCM City Fire Fight Police Department and other forces joined in the rescue, which took five hours. Because of the high tide, the barge was tightly pressed to the bridge, which made the surface protrude. Rescue workers pumped water into the barge to make it sink lower into the water, cut off the part that was stuck and used a towboat to pull it out at 5.40am, April 15.

Railway workers inspected the bridge and the first train crossed the bridge again safely at 6am.

Tran Huu Chien, the deputy director of Saigon Railway Company, noted that five trains were cancelled due to the incident. He added that this is not the first accident at Binh Loi Bridge. The company asked waterway police to take measures to force boaters to obey waterway safety rules.

PV