PORT BLAIR: The crucial link between the remote North and Middle Andaman Islands with Port Blair was cut off, after a bailly bridge along the Andaman Trunk Road (ATR) collapsed due to movement of overloaded trucks, on Wednesday. This bridge is located inside the Jarawa Tribal Reserve in South Andaman.
The movement along the ATR would be closed at least for a week now and is bound to affect election-related works. Following collapse of the bailly bridge on R K Nallah, the Andaman and Nicobar administration has temporarily suspended vehicle movement on the ATR.
“Arrangements are on for making pedestrian movement across the nallah. Completion of the arrangement will be intimated shortly,” an official release of the Andaman PWD said here on Thursday.
About 250 vehicles are stranded along the ATR due to the collapse. A cleaner reportedly fractured his leg when the bridge collapsed.
The incident occurred around 8.45 am on Wednesday, when three trucks tried to cross the bridge at one go. Eyewitnesses told Express that before the first truck could reach the other side, the second one reached the middle of the bridge. “While the second truck was about to cross the bridge, the third one entered, causing imbalance, damaging the bridge. Even now, these two trucks are stuck on two opposite sides of the bridge,” Mrinal Basu, an eyewitness told Express on Thursday.
The A&N administration is trying to evacuate passengers via sea route. “A speed boat has been provided from Middle Strait for Port Blair-bound passengers and for those bound for North & Middle Andaman, special boats will be arranged,” an administration source said.