Two uniformed Police officers died after the fall of one of the bridges that connects the departments of Quindío and Valle del Cauca, a structure that collapsed while two tractor-type vehicles, two vans and a private car were crossing, vehicles that were trapped between the asphalt plates.
The incident left two police officers seriously injured, and claimed the lives of two moreas confirmed by the governor of the department of Quindío, Roberto Jairo Jaramillo Cárdenas. The fatalities are Mayor José David Márquez Flórez and patrolman Nelson Fabián Salgado Pérez, who belonged to the Simón Bolívar Police School in Tuluá.
As could be established, a National Police truck was trapped among the other vehicles, –a private car, a tractor-trailer and two vans–, after the fall of the El Alambrado bridge, while transporting items and ammunition from the Simón Bolívar Police School located in Tuluá.
Some of the survivors managed to get out by their own means, while the others were rescued by the authorities in charge.
Jaramillo Cardenas too reported that tomorrow, April 13, the Minister of Transportation, Guillermo Reyes, will be present at the site, as well as highlighted the hard work carried out by relief organizations such as the Red Cross, La Tebaida Fire Department, Quimbaya, Caicedonia, Sevilla and Zarzal .
The Minister of Defense, Iván Velásquez, also spoke about the events, who lamented the death of the two uniformed officers amid the failure in the road structure.
“I regret the death of two uniformed officers from @PoliciaColombia in the collapse of the El Alambrado bridge, which connects Quindío with Valle del Cauca. Solidarity with their family and friends,” he said.
The emergency was apparently generated, as explained by the National Institute of Roads, Invías, due to failures in the bridge structuresituation that generated the closure of the entire Armenia-La Paila road in both directions, and that communicates with the municipalities of La Tebaida, Quindío; Seville and Caicedonia, Valley.
The authorities have asked transport vehicles and individuals to take alternate routes, such as the road between Armenia-Montenegro-Quimbaya-Cartago; route that is not recommended for cargo vehicles. The ANI, for its part, has indicated that another of the safe routes for vehicular traffic would be La Paila – Cartago – Pereira – Armenia – Calarcá.
The road where the emergency occurred is one of the areas where cargo vehicles that come from the center of the country through La Línea usually travel, bound for the port of Buenaventura.
It is worth remembering that in the recent history of the country, It would not be the first time that a bridge has collapsed due to failures in the structure. On January 15, 2018, the Chirajara bridge fell, that belonged to the road that connected Bogotá with Villavicencio, a situation that claimed the lives of nine people.