The city hall of Estreito, in Maranhão, declared, this Saturday (28), an emergency situation due to the collapse of the Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira Bridge, on BR-226, between the municipality of Maranhão and Aguiarnópolis, in Tocantins. Last Sunday (22), the central span of the 533 meter long structure gave way, leading to the fall of several vehicles passing through the area.
Nine people died and eight are missing; one was rescued alive. Today, Navy and Fire Department divers resumed the search for the missing.
According to the decree by Mayor Leoarren Túlio de Sousa Cunha, the emergency considers the environmental, human and economic impacts of what happened and is initially valid for 180 days. With the measure, and the subsequent recognition of the emergency by state and federal bodies, obtaining resources from the state and the Union is facilitated, for emergency actions, impact mitigation and recovery of normal conditions.
“The municipality has mobilized human and material resources on a large scale, but is facing the exhaustion of these resources, making state and federal technical and financial support essential,” says the document.
Among the vehicles that fell into the Tocantins River were trucks transporting pesticides and sulfuric acida corrosive chemical. On Monday (23), authorities in Tocantins and Maranhão issued a warning to the population to avoid consumption, use and bathing in the waters of the Tocantins River, in the region where the bridge collapsed. On Wednesday (25), the National Water and Basic Sanitation Agency (ANA) issued a technical opinion that there is no risk of contamination water and reported that tests will continue to be carried out.
In the decree, the city of Estreito informs about the possibility of “significant contamination” of the Tocantins River by 76 tons of sulfuric acid and 22 thousand liters of agricultural pesticides. In the municipality, in addition to the deaths and injuries, more than 19 thousand people were impacted, directly or indirectly, and there was damage to agricultural, fishing and water supply activities.
The National Department of Transport Infrastructure (Dnit) reported that a task force is in the region to support the population, hiring ferries to cross the river, and working to investigate the causes of the structure’s collapse. On Tuesday (24), the Ministry of Transport also published an emergency decree that allocates R$100 million to the construction of a new bridge and removal of the rubble.
