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Four killed as Mexico bridge collapses
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-03-21 10:44

A footbridge loaded with villagers on their way to a religious festival collapsed, sending four people to their deaths in the rocky river ravine below, authorities and witnesses said Sunday.

Thirty-seven people were injured and planks were left dangling from a single cable 80 feet above a river and its rocky banks after one side of the bridge gave out on Saturday.

People look at a hanging bridge that collapsed on one side during a festival in the town of Tapijulapa, Mexico on Sunday March 20, 2005. At least four people died and 37 people were injured in the incident.(AP Photo/Luis Lopez)
People look at a hanging bridge that collapsed on one side during a festival in the town of Tapijulapa, Mexico on Sunday March 20, 2005. At least four people died and 37 people were injured in the incident.[AP]
The bridge failed as dozens of people crossed in the initiation of an annual theatrical tribute to the Mayan rain god to ensure plentiful crops in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco.

"The bridge was full and it gave way when some youths started to shake it," said Esther Vazquez, whose husband died in the collapse.

Two small children were among the four who died.

The spring rituals at caves outside Tapijulapa are said to date back hundreds of years and now attract tourists from across Mexico and outside the country.

Residents of the remote village of Tapijulapa, 430 miles east of Mexico City, questioned whether the bridge had been properly maintained, but Tapijulapa Mayor Victor Narvaez said it may have been overloaded.

"You're dealing with bridges that are not designed to hold that much weight and movement," Narvaez said.



 
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