GEORGE TOWN: The second Penang bridge shares a sad history with the first Penang Bridge.
Within two years after the construction of the Penang Bridge started in 1982, 10 workers, including two South Koreans, had died while working on the iconic project.
Kim Jong-taek, 24, was killed in April 1983 when a steel cable from a crane snapped and hit him on the head.
Barely a year later, police found the body of another worker K. Ayahyoo, 26, floating about 15km from the bridge site in Butterworth.
Another body, which was unidentified, was also found beside his.
In May 1984, bridge worker See Ah Chye, 18, a Malaysian, was killed when he fell into the sea and drowned.
Then, the body of welder Chong Theam Seng, 27, also a Malaysian, was found floating in the North Channel about 15km from the bridge and in August, South Korean carpenter Lee Sang-rae, 27, died after he slipped and fell from the bridge.
Oct 20 marked the most tragic date for the bridge when five men were killed after a crossbeam collapsed, sending the workers plunging with tonnes of concrete about 20m into the sea.
Two loud bangs which sounded like explosions were heard before the structure gave way, leaving several others injured and in shock.
More than a decade down the road and just three months from its official opening, the second Penang bridge also suffered the same fate when a section of a ramp linking it to the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expresswaycollapsed on Thursday.
Just last month, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had become the first VIP to take a drive along the 24km bridge from Batu Maung toBatu Kawan on the mainland in a black Proton Perdana accompanied by former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
The Prime Minister had travelled on a service road to the 24km-long bridge to symbolically announce the completion of the main navigational span of the 24km second bridge.
The RM4.41bil bridge is scheduled to open to the public in September.
The final link of the stayed cable bridge at the main navigational span was completed by China Harbour Engineering Co Ltd (M) Sdn Bhd on April 20.
The three main contractors for the bridge's overland connections areCergas Murni Sdn Bhd (for the Batu Maung link), IJM Corp Bhd (Batu Kawan link) and HRA Teguh Sdn Bhd (link to North-South Highway).
