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Two drivers rescued after bridge in south Norway collapses

Frazer Norwell
Frazer Norwell - [email protected]
Two drivers rescued after bridge in south Norway collapses
Tretten Bridge is located in southern Norway, not far from Lillehammer. Pictured is a Google Maps grab of Tretten bridge before it collapsed. Photo: Google Maps.

A wooden bridge collapsed in southern Norway on Monday, sending a car and truck hurtling into a river, police said. Two drivers have been rescued from their vehicles.

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The two-lane Tretten bridge was inaugurated in 2018 and is 148 metres (485 feet) long and 10 metres wide. It also has a pedestrian sidewalk.

"Tretten bridge is reported to have collapsed. A truck and a passenger car are said to have gone into the water," local police said in a tweet.

Two drivers were on the bridge when it collapsed, a car and a truck. The drivers of the two vehicles had been recovered from the collapsed bridge. The bridge is located in Øyer Municipality, north of Lillehammer.

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All available rescue personnel had been sent to the scene, and police have appealed to witnesses to get in touch.

Head of the Geographical Operations Unit in the Innlandet police district, Terje Krogstad, told the newspaper VG that the lorry driver had been recovered by an air ambulance but was unharmed.

The police said they had no indication that anyone else was in the water as a result of the bridge collapsing.

"This bridge is used by children walking across on their way to school. That was the first thing I thought, that this is incredible luck. Today is the first day of school. It could have gone horribly wrong," the mayor of Øyer municipality, Jon Halvor Midtmageli, told VG.

The E6 road has been closed in both directions from the bridge as a result, and long queues can be expected in the area.

Below you can see a picture of the bridge tweeted by VG. 

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