More bridges could come down: warning

ZONGULDAK - Doğan News Agency

Rescue efforts are still underway to find the 14 missing people in Çaycuma. AA photo

While search and rescue efforts are underway to locate 14 people who went missing in Zonguldak after the collapse of a bridge over the weekend, experts have cautioned that other bridges in the area may be susceptible to the same threat.

“There are similar bridges in the region, and urgent measures are called for to [prevent their collapse],” Assistant Professor Kubilay Kaptan, director of Aydın University’s Disaster Training, Application and Research Center, based in Istanbul, told journalists while standing before the bridge at Filyos Creek in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak.

Red crescent aid

Kaptan said a survey had been conducted at the scene on April 7 after the collapse. The iron parts of the bridge’s piers had become exposed over time, and they could easily be seen to be corroded, he said. The 255-meter bridge was built in 1951.

Zonguldak Gov. Erol Ayyıldız paid a visit to the relatives of the victims and said the parties responsible for the bridge collapse would be punished. “We cannot make any progress by pointing fingers. Let us achieve results by working together. Have no doubts that whoever was at fault in the construction [process] will be duly punished,” Ayyıldız said.

The Zonguldak branch of the Turkish Red Crescent set up tents at the site in the morning hours of April 10 from which to offer meals to rescue teams and the victims’ relatives, who were given soup, bread and tea, according to reports.