Villagers cross bridges in fear of collapses

Residents in villages across northern Vietnam’s mountainous province Lai Chau are now terribly worried every time they cross suspension bridges following the deadly Chu Va 6 bridge collapse last month.

There are nearly 140 suspension bridges in Lai Chau with many of them being seriously dilapidated due to their old age, according to Doan Duc Long, director of the Lai Chau Department of Transport.

Long added his department has checked all of the bridges and planned to repair the weak and build new replacements.

Among the deteriorated bridges is the Khon Doi suspension bridge, named after a hamlet of Tam Duong District where it is situated, which connects 70 villagers, half of whom are children and elders, with the outside world.

The bridge is 60m in length and hangs over 10m from the water surface. Local people used cables they got from a dismantled bridge plus four large wood sections to build it three years ago, with its deck made of wood and bamboo.

A Tuoi Tre correspondent said the bridge is in a badly deteriorating condition with a few rotten bamboo pieces left over, when he recently came there.

“Local residents have no choice but to use the bridge every day to cross the deep stream underneath. We have submitted a petition to authorities, asking them to upgrade it or build a new one but they have yet to take any action,” said Lo Van Dam, a local official.

Nearby, there is a temporary suspension bridge connecting a village with the center of a district. “We dream about nothing but a solid bridge,” uttered native man Dieu Van Binh.

Floodwater sweeps the bridge away every year during the flooding season so locals have to chip in to repair it or construct a new walkway in the dry season, 60-year-old Binh said.

He added he has no idea how many people or vehicles have fallen into the stream under the bridge so far.

“I hear people shout for help every couple of days,” he said.   

Previously, eight people died and more than 30 others sustained injuries on February 24 when the cables of the Chu Va 6 suspension bridge broke, throwing a funeral procession of about 50 people who were carrying a coffin across it into a shallow rock stream down below.

The bridge collapsed about one year after it was open to the public, in December 2012.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Transport has officially confirmed that faulty screws were the cause of the accident.