Bridge collapse in Brazil leaves at least 2 dead, twelve missing

A bridge connecting two northern Brazilian states collapsed, killing at least two people and leaving a dozen others missing, police said Monday. The spill of sulfuric acid is complicating the rescue operation.

Pictures obtained by local residents showed cars and trucks crossing the Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira bridge when large sections fell into a river on Sunday.

Police working on the border of the northern states of Maranhao and Tocantins said eight vehicles were missing: four trucks, two cars and two motorcycles. The police and Brazil's road department said they started an investigation into the matter.

The 533-meter-long (1,748-foot-long) bridge between the cities of Estreito and Aguiarnopolis was built in the 1960s and is located 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) north of the capital, Brasilia .

Magnum Coelho, a colonel at the local fire department office, told journalists that it is dangerous to send divers to rescue operations because the Tocantins River could be contaminated with sulfuric acid from one of the lost trucks. fell from the bridge.

The bridge collapse was one of several accidents in Brazil over the weekend. On Saturday, an accident involving a passenger bus and a truck killed dozens of people on a highway in Minas Gerais, a state in southeastern Brazil. On Sunday night, authorities confirmed that the death toll had risen to 41.

Local authorities said on Sunday that the driver of the truck fled and could face criminal charges because of an allegedly overweight cargo that may have caused the crash.

The fire department of the state of Minas Gerais said several people were taken to hospitals near the city of Teofilo Otoni. According to reports, the bus had left from Sao Paulo and was carrying 45 passengers.

Also on Sunday, at least 10 people died after a small plane crashed in Gramado, a southern town popular with tourists. More than a dozen people were injured on the ground, Brazil's Civil Protection Agency said.

The plane was piloted by Luiz Claudio Galeazzi, a businessman from Brazil who was traveling with his family to Sao Paulo State. Brazil's Civil Defense Agency said the plane hit the chimney of a home and then the second floor of a building before crashing into a cell phone store.