During the midnight of Thursday, February 13th, the Chancay Bridge in the Lima region of Peru suddenly collapsed, causing a provincial bus and a small car driving on the bridge to plunge into the river. The incident has resulted in at least 2 fatalities and dozens of injuries.
Reports from various media outlets indicate that around 11:55 PM on Thursday, the Chancay Bridge, located 75 kilometers north of the Pan-American Highway, collapsed, leading to a provincial bus with over fifty passengers and a private car tragically falling into the fast-flowing waters of the Chancay River. This nearly 60-meter long bridge was constructed in the 1960s.
The bus was en route from the port city of Chimbote to the capital city, Lima, a journey of approximately 400 kilometers.
Luis Sotomayor, the head of the Huacho branch of Peru’s National Civil Defense Institute, confirmed that the Chancay Bridge did indeed experience a “structural collapse.”
Following the incident, more than 50 national police officers and 100 firefighters immediately rushed to the scene for rescue operations, as reported by Peru’s Ministry of Transportation and Communications. Minister Raúl Pérez Reyes arrived early on Friday, the 14th, to oversee the rescue efforts on-site.
After working continuously for over three hours, rescue workers managed to extract over forty passengers from the provincial bus and promptly transfer the injured individuals to nearby hospitals for treatment.
Regarding the private car affected by the accident, Reyes mentioned that the rescue team recovered the severely damaged vehicle downstream, but no individuals were found inside, and the car doors were open. It remains unclear whether the occupants of the car successfully escaped or were swept away by the river, as police are currently investigating this matter.
Authorities have confirmed that the incident has resulted in at least 2 fatalities and 41 injuries, including the bus driver and a passenger.
As for the specific reasons behind the Chancay Bridge collapse, further investigations are ongoing. Reyes emphasized that authorities will verify whether the highway concessionaire conducted the necessary assessments and maintenance on the bridge’s structure.
Due to the impact of this incident, the section of the Pan-American Highway has been temporarily closed. The transportation department advises motorists to plan alternate routes and detours to avoid delays in their journeys. Additionally, relevant authorities are actively taking measures to restore traffic flow on that road segment as soon as possible.