Children fall to their deaths as school bridge collapses in Peru
Pastor Dale Morgan
From Times Online
April 14, 2009
*Children fall to their deaths as school bridge collapses in Peru*
The broken suspension bridge in Coracora
(Reuters)
The broken suspension bridge is seen after the accident in the Peruvian
mountain town of Coracora
Times Online
Nine school children fell hundreds of feet to their deaths when a
suspension bridge over a ravine snapped in a remote Peruvian town
yesterday. Dozens more were injured.
Most of the injured were aged 10 and 13, and two of the dead were
teachers who were with their students when the footbridge collapsed in
the Andean town of Coracora.
"We've suffered a grave accident. A suspension bridge that goes to a
high school has fallen, it has broken in two and we have a large number
of students injured and dead," Walter Antayhua, the Mayor of Coracora,
told a local radio station.
The bridge – which had been scheduled for repairs – was 130ft (40
metres) long and stretched towards a local high school above a canyon
that in places is 320ft deep. The town of Coracora is about 370 miles
southeast of the Peruvian capital, Lima.
"We need a helicopter because there are children who are dying," Alfonso
Paredes, a local resident, said from the poorly equipped hospital where
patients were being treated.
Helicopters were sent to the town but could not land because of bad
weather. The Government said that it hoped to fly in trauma surgeons today.
At least 53 victims were taken to the hospital, 14 of them with serious
injuries.
"The injuries are grave," said Fernando Valencia, a doctor at the hospital.
Suspension bridges woven from ropes were built in the Incan era to link
steep Andean hillsides. They are now often made of metal cables lashed
to cement posts and are widely used in remote mountain towns in Peru.
Mr Antayhua said that repairs were scheduled for the bridge last week.