Part of the Waal bridge in Nijmegen falls on beach, no one injured
A part of the Waal bridge ("Waalbrug") in Nijmegen fell down on Saturday afternoon and landed on the beach. This was confirmed by a spokesperson for Rijkswaterstaat, according to reports from Omroep Gelderland. When pieces of the bridge fell down, people were on the beach. One of them said, according to the regional broadcast, that the fallen pieces landed only a few centimeters away from her and other people on the beach.
Stuk van Waalbrug valt naar beneden https://t.co/kns2BDfJ7A pic.twitter.com/e6SwuBQwNl
— Omroep Gelderland (@OmroepGLD) June 17, 2023
The municipality of Nijmegen cordoned off part of the beach with tapes, Rijkswaterstaat reported. This was done to avoid endangering beach-goers in case more pieces fall from the bridge. The municipality and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) will jointly investigate how this could have happened. However, the spokeswoman of Rijkswaterstaat could not give any further information about how big the fallen part is.
According to Rijkswaterstaat, there is no danger to traffic on the bridge. "You can just keep driving," said a spokesperson, Omroep Gelderland wrote.
Reporting by ANP and NL Times