At least six killed in Pakistan bridge collapse
KARACHI (AFP) — A road bridge Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf opened only last month collapsed Saturday in Karachi, killing at least six people with more trapped under the debris, officials said.
Rescuers were trying to clear the wreckage to retrieve survivors amid fears the death toll could rise, they said.
Witnesses said a portion of the bridge fell with a huge bang while traffic was on it.
"It created such a huge sound that we thought it was an earthquake," said one local resident.
Senior police official Falak Khurshid said four bodies had been retrieved and he saw two more --- of a man and a child --- trapped in the mangled mass of concrete.
Police official Khalid Hameed told AFP more than a dozen people were wounded in the collapse, adding that several vehicles were trapped in the debris.
A teenage boy, Ehsan Ellahi, said he was passing under the bridge on his donkey-driven cart when the structure caved in.
"It sounded as if a huge bomb had exploded. I was trapped inside," Ellahi told AFP at the scene.
He said he was lucky because he was at the edge of the road and managed to crawl out of the debris but his donkey was crushed.
Musharraf expressed his grief over the incident and ordered an immediate inquiry into the causes of the collapse, an official statement said.
Karachi's mayor said the bridge was built by the state-run National Highway Authority and inaugurated by the president on August 6.
Karachi, with a population of more than 12 million, is Pakistan's largest city and the country's main commercial hub.
