UAE | General

Bridge under construction collapses on Shaikh Zayed Road

Five workers were injured after part of an under construction bridge on the First Interchange on Shaikh Zayed Road collapsed on Monday night.

  • By Ashfaq Ahmed, Chief Reporter
  • Published: 23:53 June 17, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • A collapsed portion of the under-construction First Interchange in Dubai lie being covered by plastic sheets.
  • Image Credit: Arshad Ali/Gulf News

Dubai: Five workers were injured after part of an under construction bridge on the First Interchange on Shaikh Zayed Road collapsed on Monday night.

A police official said they rescued five injured people from the construction site after it dispatched teams to the site at 1.30am.

The accident has raised concerns about the quality of work and safety issues at the construction sites as it was the second bridge collapse incident in the last eight months.

Seven workers were killed when an under construction bridge collapsed in Dubai Marina in November last year.

Since the accident happened near the under construction Dubai Metro line, many believed it was a metro viaduct bridge that collapsed. "There is no damage to the metro line," an official at the Dubai Metro confirmed.

A spokesperson of the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said in a statement that three workers, who were working on the bridge sustained minor injuries, while two others sustained moderate injuries.

The collapsed bridge was being constructed to connect Shaikh Zayed Road with Doha Street and was part of the new First Interchange (Defence roundabout).

More than 50 metres of the bridge ccrashed after the pillar and the scaffolding collapsed.

The RTA official said that the Dh618 million contract was awarded to an Italian company to build a three-tier interchange. The construction on the project started early last year.

Miscalculation

A police official said teams from Dubai Police as well as from Dubai Civil Defence participated in the rescue operation.

The official said the rescue teams scanned the area to make sure nobody was buried under the rubble. He said the supervisor also said that none of the workers were missing.

"The accident happened due to miscalculations on the part of the contractor as a result the pillar and the scaffolding could not take the load of the bridge and it collapsed," said the RTA statement.

It also said that the damage was just five metres and it did not block the traffic because it was far away from the main road.

The RTA official said an investigation into the accident has already been started.

With inputs from Alia Al Theeb, Staff Reporter

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