BOGOTA (Reuters) - At least nine construction workers were killed and five injured when a partially-constructed bridge collapsed in central Colombia on Monday, an official from the disaster response agency said.

The bridge, located in Chirajara on the border of Cundinamarca and Meta provinces, was to be part of the highway that connects the capital Bogota and the city of Villavicencio, and was not yet in public use.

The cause of the collapse, which sent pieces of the bridge down into a canyon below, is under investigation, Reinaldo Romero, head of disaster response for Meta province, told Reuters.

“Up to now there are nine dead and five injured,” Romero said. “We are doing a check to rule out other victims.”

Transportation Minister German Cardona flew over the site of the collapse later on Monday and visited rescue staff on the ground with Dimitri Zaninovich, the head of the national infrastructure agency.</s>A motorway bridge under construction in Colombia has collapsed, killing at least nine workers and injuring five others, the BBC reports.

The bridge in Chirajara was to be part of a highway connecting the capital, Bogotá, with the city of Villavicencio.

Photos from the scene show a large part of the 450m-long bridge lying in the ravine below.

Transport Minister Germán Cardona spoke of a “tragedy” and said the cause of the collapse would be investigated.</s>BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombian officials say 10 workers died after a bridge they were building outside the nation's capital collapsed.

Civil Defense authorities say the laborers were working on drainage along the bridge when the structure fell Monday about 95 kilometers (60 miles) from Bogota.

Nine people were killed at the scene and the 10th died after being taken to a nearby hospital with severe injuries.

Authorities are still working to determine how many people were working on the bridge at the time of the collapse and if anyone is missing.</s>Jan. 15 (UPI) -- At least 10 people are dead after a bridge collapsed in central Colombia on Monday, officials confirmed.

Colonel Jorge Diaz of Colombia's Civil Defense told El Espectador newspaper that nine people died at the site of the accident and one died while en route to a nearby hospital.

The victims were construction laborers. The bridge is part of a major infrastructure project located about 40 miles outside he capital city of Bogota that was expected to be completed later this year.

NBC News reported that the victims were working on a sewer system when the bridge collapsed. It's not clear how many workers were on the bride when it collapsed.

Local news reports say that search and rescue missions were still underway.

The cause of the collapse is still under investigation.

In a tweet, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said his "solidarity is with the relatives of the victims."</s>At least 10 construction workers died in Colombia on Monday after the bridge they were working on near Capital city Bogota collapsed. Colombian Civil Defence authorities said nine of them were killed at the site and the tenth succumbed to injuries in hospital, CNN reported.

“We are still working to verify the total number of people who were working at the time,” they said in a statement.

Known as the Chirajara bridge, the 450-m structure was meant to be part of a highway connecting Bogota with the city of Villavicencio in the east. Coviandes, the company working on the project, said it would help the families of the victims as well as those injured in the collapse, the BBC reported.</s>NINE CONSTRUCTION WORKERS have died after a bridge that they were working on collapsed into a valley in Chirajara, Colombia.

The bridge was to be part of a highway connecting the Colombian capital Bogotá with the city of Villavicencio. Yesterday, the middle section of the 450m-long bridge collapsed, killing nine workers and injuring at least five others.

The construction company charged with building the motorway bridge released a statement on its website saying that it would help the families of the workers who died or were injured in the incident.

“Coviandes, its shareholders, its board of directors and collaborators express their deepest condolences to the families of the victims,” the company said, listing the names of the employees who died.

It added that experts will examine the scene of the collapse to investigate the causes of the event.

Read: At least two dead and over a dozen injured in Belgium ‘gas explosion’</s>BOGOTA: Ten construction workers in central Colombia were killed Monday when a section of the bridge they were working on collapsed.

The disaster occurred around midday on the bridge, which is due to connect sections of the highway that runs from the capital Bogota to the city of Villavicencio in an area known as Chirajara.

“Ten people are confirmed to have died,” Col. Jorge Diaz of the Civil Defense rescue organization told reporters.

“Nine died at the site of the accident and one other was transported to a hospital, where he died,” said Diaz.

The deceased fell from a height of approximately 280 metres (918 feet) when a section of the structure of the bridge gave way. Due to the area’s difficult geography, only two bodies have been recovered so far. Eight injured workmen have been transferred to hospital.

“From one moment to the next, the bridge collapsed, and people and the structure fell into the valley below,” said Diaz.

Members of the rescue team have not ruled out the possibility of locating more bodies as reports claim that anywhere between 20 and 30 people were working on the bridge at the time of its collapse.

The bridge, which would have had a length of 446 metres (1,463 feet), was due to be inaugurated at the end of March.

The region around Chirajara is a particularly mountainous area where the highway from the capital descends towards Villavicencio. The actual distance between Bogota and Villavicencio is around 72 kilometres (45 miles), but given the difficult terrain, the highway is significantly longer and consists of multiple tunnels and 46 separate bridges.

As the search continues, the Colombian highway control authority INVIAS has issued a statement declaring the total closure of the road between Bogota and Villavicencio from Naranjal to Buenavista.</s>Ten workers have been killed after a highway bridge they were building collapsed in to a canyon in Colombia.

Laborers were working on drainage along the partially-constructed Chirajara bridge when the structure crashed down into a valley about 60 miles from from capital Bogota.

Nine were killed at the scene in Guayabetal municipality and the tenth died after being taken to a nearby hospital with severe injuries.

Authorities are still working to determine how many people were working on the bridge at the time of the collapse and if anyone is missing.

The cause of the collapse, which sent rubble and twisted metal down into a canyon below, is under investigation, Reinaldo Romero, head of disaster response for Meta province,said.

The bridge, located in Chirajara on the border of Cundinamarca and Meta provinces, was to be part of the highway that connects the capital Bogota and the city of Villavicencio, and was not yet in public use.

'The victims are construction workers who were working on the project's drainage,' the Colombian Civil Defense said in a statement.

'We are still working to verify the total number of people who were working at the time.'

The bridge was estimated to be 1,338ft long, according to the National Infrastructure Agency, and was due to have been completed at the end of March this year.

President Juan Manuel Santos has asked the country's infrastructure agency to visit the site and said in an official tweet: 'All my solidarity with relatives of the victims.'</s>Ten workers were thrown about 900 feet to their deaths when a partially-constructed bridge collapsed in a mountainous region of central Colombia on Monday, officials said.

An additional five workers were also injured in the accident.

Reuters reports the cause of the collapse, which sent pieces of the bridge down into a canyon below, is under investigation.

The bridge, located in Chirajara on the border of Cundinamarca and Meta provinces, was to be part of the highway that connects the capital Bogota and the city of Villavicencio.

Coviandes, the company carrying out the work, published the names of those who died at the site and said others wounded in the collapse were being treated.

VISITING NORTH KOREA? DRAFT A WILL AND PLAN YOUR FUNERAL, STATE DEPARTMENT SAYS

Transportation Minister German Cardona flew over the site later on Monday and visited rescue staff on the ground with Dimitri Zaninovich, the head of the national infrastructure agency.

About 260 feet of the bridge was reportedly still incomplete when it collapsed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.</s>Steel cables that were holding up the partially completed motorway bridge near the capital Bogota "give out", sending half of the structure into the ravine below.

The bridge was close to completion prior to its collapse, the Transport Minister says. (Credit: Reuters)

At least nine construction workers were killed and five injured when a partially constructed bridge collapsed in Colombia.

The uncompleted suspension bridge, located in Chirajara on the border of Cundinamarca and Meta provinces, was to be part of the highway that connects the capital Bogota and the city of Villavicencio.

The cause of the collapse, which sent pieces of the bridge down into a deep ravine below, is under investigation, the head of disaster response for Meta province Reinaldo Romero said.

Construction worker Maicol Lopez was on the other side of the bridge at the time of the accident and said there was little warning of the collapse.

"We all of a sudden heard a really loud noise, the steel cables that support the cable cars to put up the bridge started to give out, so we just ran and ran and tried to evacuate," he said.

"There was a lot of smoke, and desperation in all directions. As we were evacuating we turned around to look that way, the beam was no longer there.

"We came to try and help our friends, but unfortunately, well, they died."

Transportation Minister German Cardona flew over the site of the collapse later on Monday (local time) and visited rescue staff on the ground with Dimitri Zaninovich, the head of the national infrastructure agency.

"It was a project that … was close to being done. Sadly we lost nine human lives.

"Thank God most people were on the other side of the bridge and that's why this tragedy was not of enormous proportions."
A partially completed bridge in Cundinamarca, Colombia, collapses, killing at least 10 workers.