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The collapse of
Cần Thơ Bridge Cần Thơ Bridge (), is a cable-stayed bridge over the Hậu ( Bassac) River, the largest distributary of the Mekong River, in the city of Cần Thơ in southern Vietnam. The bridge is 2.75 kilometres long (1.68 miles). It has a 6-lane carriagewa ...
was a severe construction accident in southern
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
in September 2007. A section of an approach ramp fell more than , killing and injuring dozens of people. The number of casualties remains unclear. Shortly after the accident one source stated that there were 52 people dead and 140 injured; other sources have shown a death toll reaching 59. Dr. Trần Chủng, head of the national construction QA/QC authority under the Ministry of Construction of Vietnam, described it as the most catastrophic disaster in the history of Vietnam's construction industry, to which Ho Nghia Dung, Minister of Transport, agreed. Dung apologized for the collapse of the bridge. Meeting with reporters on Saturday, September 29, 2007, he said, "This is the most serious problem and workplace accident in the transport sector. I apologize to all people, victims, and the victims' families." He further suggested that the main responsibility for the collapse lay with the contractor, and that he would consider resigning once the official determination of the accident's cause was made by the relevant Vietnamese authorities.


Cần Thơ Bridge

Cần Thơ Bridge is a
cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which wire rope, cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or wikt:stay#Etymology 3, stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, norm ...
over the Hậu ( Bassac) River, the largest
distributary A distributary, or a distributary channel is a stream channel that branches off and flows a main stream channel. It is the opposite of a ''tributary'', a stream that flows another stream or river. Distributaries are a result of river bifurc ...
of the
Mekong River The Mekong or Mekong River ( , ) is a transboundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's List of rivers by length, twelfth-longest river and List of longest rivers of Asia, the third-longest in Asia with an estimated l ...
. The four-lane bridge is located in
Bình Minh Bình Minh is a town of Vĩnh Long Province, in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. Under the decree No 89/NQ-CP dated Dec 28, 2012, the cabinet of Vietnam SR decided to upgrade Bình Minh of Vĩnh Long to town from rural district. The area of B� ...
Town,
Vĩnh Long Province Vĩnh Long () is a province located in the Mekong Delta of southwestern Vietnam. Its capital is Vĩnh Long. Its population is 1,046,390 and its area is . Vĩnh Long (spelled 永隆 in the former Hán-Nôm writing system) is a Sino-Vietnamese na ...
, opposite Cái Răng District,
Cần Thơ Cần Thơ () is the List of cities in Vietnam, fourth-largest city in Vietnam, and the largest city along the Mekong Delta region in Vietnam. It is noted for its floating markets, rice paper-making village, and picturesque rural canals. It has ...
,
Mekong Delta The Mekong Delta ( or simply ), also known as the Western Region () or South-western region (), is the list of regions of Vietnam, region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong, Mekong River River delta, approaches and empties into the sea th ...
, approximately south of
Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...
. Prime Minister
Phan Văn Khải Phan Văn Khải (; 25 December 1933 – 17 March 2018) was a Vietnamese politician who served as the fifth Prime Minister of Vietnam from 25 September 1997 until his resignation on 27 June 2006. He was considered to be a technocratic, innovat ...
launched its construction on September 25, 2004; it was scheduled to be completed at the end of 2008, but was not opened to traffic until April, 2010. The bridge was built to replace the
ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...
system that ran along National Route 1, linking Vĩnh Long Province and Cần Thơ city. The estimated construction cost was 4,832 billion
vietnamese đồng The dong (; ; ; sign: ₫ or informally đ and sometimes Đ in Vietnamese; code: VND) is the currency of Vietnam, in use since 3 May 1978. It is issued by the State Bank of Vietnam. The dong was also the currency of the predecessor states of ...
(approximately US$342.6 million). It was built under the supervision of consultant Nippon Koei-Chodai, which was working with Japanese
contractors A contractor (North American English) or builder (British English), is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and the communication of information to all involved parties throughout the c ...
, including the
Taisei Corporation is a Japanese corporation founded in 1873. Its main areas of business are building construction, civil engineering, and real estate development. Taisei's headquarters are located at Shinjuku Center Building in Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo. ...
,
Kajima Construction is one of the oldest and largest construction companies in Japan. Founded in 1840, the company has its headquarters in Motoakasaka, Minato, Tokyo. The company is known for its DIB-200 proposal. The company stock is traded on four leading Japa ...
and
Nippon Steel (previously known as Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal until 2019) is Japan's largest steelmaker, headquartered in Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company has four business segments, which are steelmaking, engineering, chemicals, and systems solu ...
.
Capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...
for the project was provided by the
Japan International Cooperation Agency The Japan International Cooperation Agency (), also known as JICA'','' is a governmental agency that delivers the bulk of Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the government of Japan. It is chartered with assisting economic and social gr ...
, which received
official development assistance Official development assistance (ODA) is a category used by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to measure foreign aid. The DAC first adopted the concept in 1969. It is w ...
loans from the Japan Bank of International Cooperation and the Vietnamese government.


Collapse

At 8 am local time ( GMT+7) on Wednesday, September 26, 2007, a steel-and-concrete section of an approach ramp, which was over above the ground, collapsed onto a small island near the Vinh Long side of the river. There were about 250 engineers and workers on or under the span at the time of the collapse. Said Manh Hung, a construction team leader, “we suddenly heard a great explosion at a bridge-head. Dust covered a great air space while workers screamed out. The scene was so terrible. The whole great block of concrete fell on people below.”An Engineer's Aspect website: The 2nd Anniversary of the Collapse of the Can Tho Bridge; Sat., Sept. 26, 2009; http://anengineersaspect.blogspot.com/2009/09/2nd-anniversary-of-collapse-of-can-tho.html Initial news accounts indicated that about 50 men had been killed, 100 or more had been injured, and that others might be trapped under debris.


Rescue

Immediately following the accident, workers at the site joined rescue forces in digging out and evacuating the injured. Local people, students, cadres, and 30 Japanese and Filipino volunteers also joined in the effort, while Chợ Rẫy Hospital in
Hồ Chí Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...
sent two professional rescue teams to the site. The combined rescue effort - including forces from the Ministries of National Defence, Public Health, and Public Security, as well as volunteers - was placed under the direction of
Hoàng Trung Hải Hoàng Trung Hải (; born September 27, 1959, in Thái Bình Province) is a Vietnamese Politician and was the Communist Secretary of the Party Committee in Ha Noi City, a post he began to take from 5 February 2016. He was a member of the 12th ...
, Vice Premier of the Government. The rescue effort received international support. The American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam sent resources located in
Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...
,
Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
, and
Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...
to Cần Thơ. The International SOS alarm centre and clinic in
Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...
sent a first response team of three doctors, a nurse, an interpreter, and an operations manager. Rescue efforts were carried out with cranes, rather than by direct entry of rescue personnel, due to the danger of the collapse of remaining portions of the ramp. Thirty professional rescuers from Japan and the
Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
were dispatched to the accident site to participate in the rescue effort. Lưu Thành Đồng, vice director of Cần Thơ Public Transportation Service (''Sở Giao thông Công chánh'') stated to BBC Vietnam that "as long there is hope of survivors, the rescue efforts will continue." Four days after the accident, on Saturday, September 29, rescue efforts were suspended, as the likelihood of finding further survivors was considered very low.


Causes of the accident

The Ministries of Transport and of Public Security created an investigative team, led by lieutenant-general Phạm Nam Tào, head of the Police Division of the Ministry of Public Security, to determine the cause of the collapse. Several possibilities were forwarded: * Reuters reported that officials had said recent heavy rains might have softened the foundations. * Dr. Trần Chủng, head of the national construction QA/QC authority under the Ministry of Construction of Vietnam, suggested that the collapse might have been caused by the movement of temporary pillar while concrete supports - poured just for two days earlier - were not sufficiently stable. * Minister of Transport Ho Nghia Dung said that the sinking of the temporary pillars, which had to bear a 6000 metric ton concrete structure, might have caused the collapse; he told reporters,"''...Preliminary information has shown that there have been signs of settlement of the foundation of the temporary pillars.''" * Other sources suggested that there had been
landslides Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslide ...
near the river shore which had displaced and destabilized the temporary pillar. Long before the collapse, on 12 January, a Japanese construction consultant, Hiroshi Kudo, had recommended specific measures for installing the temporary pillars, and that load tests for the piling should be carried out in accordance with international standards and codes. According to Kudo, the loading capacity of the temporary pillars, as per the detailed design proposed by the contractors, met just 15% of the required loading. He remarked that: *The contractors had multiplied the pile overloading ratio by 1.15 instead of 1.25 in accordance with the American standard or 1.35 in accordance with the Japanese standard; *When calculating the wind force on the temporary piles, the contractors had applied a wind force of , which was too low; it should have been . (According to NCE.co.uk, 2.5 is the coefficient for the wind loadin

) He had therefore required the contractors to redo their temporary pile and shoring designs. Top officials of the Japanese contracting companies flew to Vietnam and made bows in a meeting to apologize to the victims and their families. Hayama Kanji, Chairman of the Taisei Corporation, said in a meeting with Vietnamese authorities: "I sincerely express my deepest apology to the people and the government of Vietnam". On March 6, 2008, Minister of Construction Nguyen Hong Quan released a report containing the results of the eight-month-long investigation into the accident at a press conference in Hanoi. The sinking of the bridge's makeshift foundation was pinpointed as the primary reason for the collapse, the report said. The dipping phenomenon caused the bridge support to tumble, breaking two bridge spans. The report added the sinking of the foundation was an "unfortunate situation and hard to project in the design process."


Casualties

In the days immediately following the collapse of the Can Tho bridge, reports of the number of men killed, injured, and missing varied widely: * According to
Vietnam News Agency Vietnam News Agency is the official State media, state-run news agency of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. It operates more than 30 foreign news bureau, bureaux worldwide and maintains 63 bureaux in Vietnam — one for each city and provinc ...
and
CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
, 52 people dead and 149 injured. * According to Vietnam Net, 49 corpses have been found and 181 people injured. * According to Thanh Nien and VnExpress, 37 people dead and 87 injured, not including those not yet recovered from the debris. * According to ''
Tuổi Trẻ ''Tuổi Trẻ'' ("Youth", or ) is a major daily newspaper in Vietnam, published in Vietnamese by the Hồ Chí Minh City branch of the Hồ Chí Minh Communist Youth Union, the youth wing of the Communist Party of Vietnam. While it is still ...
'', 52 people dead, 97 injured and several survivors trapped in the debris. However, this newspaper stated 37 dead on 27 September 2007. * According to
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
, 36 dead, nevertheless,
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...
quoted a Chinese subcontractor as saying 60 dead. * According to the newspaper Tien Phong, 59 dead, 97 injured and still 70 trapped under the debris. The Vietnamese government has since established that 54 men died in the accident, and 80 were seriously injured.


Memorial

The American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam had a "Benefit Performance Memorial" that was held on September 30, 2007. It was open to the public, at the HCMC Military Zone 7 Stadium, and was held to help raise funds for the victims' families. The memorial had singers such as Phuong Thanh and Siu Black perform to raise money.


Legal actions

On October 2, 2007, the Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam began proceedings to determine the liability of individuals and organizations involved in the Can Tho bridge project for prosecution in accordance with Article 229 of the Penal Code of the S.R. Vietnam ("Violation of construction regulations leading to severe consequences"). On the same day, Vĩnh Long Police signed a prosecution decision (Decision no. 29) against some of the sub-contractors. According to the local police, their investigations showed that contractors had removed temporary shoring sooner than instructed in detailed engineering plans, which broke the structure and led to a "
domino effect A domino effect is the cumulative effect produced when one event sets off a series of similar or related events, a form of chain reaction. The term is an analogy to a falling row of dominoes. It typically refers to a linked sequence of events ...
" collapse. Some testimonies also indicated that subcontractors had used poor quality shoring worn out from several previous uses. '' Tuoi Tre'' newspaper, "2 more corpses have been found", , retrieved on October 4, 200

/ref>


See also

*
List of bridge failures This is a list of bridge failures. Before 1800 1800–1899 1900–1949 1950–1999 2000–present Bridge disasters in fiction *''The General (1926 film), The General'' (1926 film): The fictional Rock River bridge, a wooden trestl ...
*
Quebec Bridge The Quebec Bridge () is a road, rail, and pedestrian bridge across the lower Saint Lawrence River between Sainte-Foy, Quebec City, Sainte-Foy (a former suburb that in 2002 became the arrondissement Sainte-Foy–Sillery–Cap-Rouge in Quebec Cit ...
, collapsed during construction on August 29, 1907, killing 76 workers


References


External links

* News items informing about the bridge collapse: *
MSNBC
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BBC
*

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VOA
* Photographs of the collapsed bridge *
Can Tho Bridge Photos, Ian Stacey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collapse Of Can Tho Bridge Bridge disasters in Vietnam Bridge disasters caused by construction error 2007 in Vietnam History of Cần Thơ Transport disasters in 2007 2007 disasters in Vietnam September 2007 in Asia