Guwahati, India— A 40-meter section of a two-lane river bridge on National Highway 27 near Nalbari collapsed at 4:10 a.m. Tuesday after overnight river surge scoured its foundations, sending two vehicles plunging into the Brahmaputra tributary and killing their occupants.
The bridge, built in 1987, crosses the Pagladiya River. Water levels rose three meters overnight after heavy rain in Bhutan and upstream Assam. At dawn, the central pier tilted, then the deck snapped. A truck and an SUV that were crossing fell 12 meters into churning water.
Four deaths have been confirmed. The truck driver and cleaner and two occupants of the SUV died. One truck helper swam to shore and was hospitalized with fractures. Divers recovered two bodies by noon; two remain missing.
"We heard a loud crack. The bridge went down in the middle. Headlights disappeared into water," said a tea stall owner who sleeps near the approach and alerted police.
Assam State Disaster Response Force deployed boats and divers but strong currents hampered search. The river remains in spate. NHAI engineers said scour holes up to six meters deep were found around the pier base, far beyond design limits.
"The pier foundation was shallow, built on alluvium. No scour protection was added after 2010 floods. Maintenance was overdue," a senior PWD engineer said at the site. He asked not to be named because the inquiry is still open.
Traffic on NH27, the main east-west corridor, was diverted 70 kilometers via Rangia. Hundreds of trucks were stranded. The state government announced compensation for victims’ families and ordered safety audits of 30 similar bridges.
Bridge collapses during monsoon and post-monsoon surges have killed more than 50 people in Assam in the past five years. Experts blame sand mining, inadequate scour protection, and deferred repairs.
The district magistrate sealed the bridge approaches and requested an army engineering team to assess whether a temporary Bailey bridge can be installed.
Search operations will resume at first light Wednesday with sonar support.
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