On 3 July 2014, an

overpass An overpass (called an overbridge or flyover in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries) is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway. An ''overpass'' and '' underpass'' together for ...

collapsed in

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

onto a busy

carriageway A carriageway (British English) or roadway (North American English) consists of a width of road on which a vehicle is not restricted by any physical barriers or separation to move laterally. A carriageway generally consists of a number of tra ...

below. The overpass was under construction and not open to traffic at the time. The accident left two people dead and 22 others injured.

Background

The construction project was part of infrastructural improvements meant to prepare for the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from ...

that was taking place at the time of the collapse. The bridge was to be part of the

Bus rapid transit Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...

system. The concrete and steel bridge was located 3 kilometers from the Mineirão, where many games at the World Cup were played. The construction began in 2010 and was scheduled to be completed in May 2014. The World Cup was already unpopular in the public due to the heavy costs to tax payers.

Accident

On 3 July 2014, the

collapsed onto the busy

Avenida Pedro I below. A bus and several cars were crushed under the rubble. The bus driver and another person were killed, and 22 other people were injured. At least 12 of the injured were taken to

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emergen ...

; five others were released following treatment at the accident site.

Investigation

The

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared ...

that was building the overpass, Cowan Construction, immediately set up a forensic team to investigate the causes of the accident. Technical staff were sent out to the accident site on the day of the collapse.

Reaction

One witness criticised the involved authorities and businesses for "not making things properly" and blamed the accelerated construction schedules and their "incompetence" for the disaster. The

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

worker also claimed that "Everyone is angry."

President of Brazil The president of Brazil ( pt, Presidente do Brasil), officially the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil ( pt, Presidente da República Federativa do Brasil) or simply the ''President of the Republic'', is the head of state and head o ...

Dilma Rousseff Dilma Vana Rousseff (; born 14 December 1947) is a Brazilian economist and politician who served as the 36th president of Brazil, holding the position from 2011 until her impeachment and removal from office on 31 August 2016. She is the first ...

offered her condolences "to the victims' families" in a

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

post. The City Hall of Belo Horizonte released a statement announcing that Marcio Lacerda,

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of Belo Horizonte, had officially declared three days of

mourning Mourning is the expression of an experience that is the consequence of an event in life involving loss, causing grief, occurring as a result of someone's death, specifically someone who was loved although loss from death is not exclusively ...

in the city.

References

{{Portal bar, Brazil 2014 disasters in Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup Belo Horizonte Bridge disasters in Brazil Bridge disasters of unknown cause History of Minas Gerais 2014 road incidents Road incidents in Brazil July 2014 events in South America

Background

Accident

Investigation

Reaction

See also

References