When the bridge collapsed, it brought down a tanker which was carrying more than 6,000 gallons of gasoline. A huge quantity of the liquid spilled on to the road, but 18 firefighter units arrived and prevented the gas from catching fire.An overloaded truck caused the San Pedro bridge on kilometer 31 of the Pan American South highway to collapse over the weekend, El Comercio reports.
“First we ensured that we rescued everyone who was trapped inside their vehicle, then we contained the flammable liquid in order to avoid a bigger disaster,” Mario Casareto, communications chief for the fire department told El Comercio.
The driver of the gas truck was initially trapped inside the large vehicle until he was freed by the fire department and brought to San Pablo de Surco hospital.
The driver told Canal N news that he felt the bridge shaking as he drove over it.
The driver of the overloaded truck in question was intercepted about 15 kilometers down the road and admitted to using the bridge despite of being over capacity. He was later taken to the Lurin police station.
Traffic on the highway was restored on Sunday after 20 hours of work by Rutas Lima to move the fallen section of the bridge. The fallen slab of road is currently resting beside the highway.
According to RPP, as of this morning traffic began traveling in both directions once again.
