Nanfangao Bridge Collapse Crushes Fishing Boats|南方澳大橋倒塌壓垮3漁船 油罐車掉落起火

A bridge spanning Nanfangao Fishing Port in Yilan County suddenly collapsed at around 9 a.m. on Oct. 1. At the time of the incident, a fuel tanker was crossing the bridge. It fell into the waterway after the bridge collapsed and caught on fire. The Yilan County Fire Department says three fishing vessels were crushed underneath the bridge.


This footage shows a fuel tanker traveling along Nanfangao Bridge, a bridge that spans Nanfangao Fishing Port in Yilan County. The bridge then spectacularly breaks apart in the middle and collapses, and pieces of the roadway fall into the water. The fuel tanker drops into the water along with pieces of the bridge and catches on fire, spewing out black smoke. The roadway pieces crushed three fishing vessels when they fell into the water. Some of the fishermen aboard the vessels were pinned down, while others fell into the water. The Yilan County Fire Department raced to the scene as soon as it received a report. All of the rescued people have been sent to Pohai Hospital and Taipei Veterans General Hospital Suao Branch.

According to the captains, there were two to three fishermen aboard each of the vessels. Their status won't be confirmed until the captains give confirmation. We dispatched 93 firefighters and volunteer firefighters.

The Yilan County Government activated its emergency response for an accident with multiple injured people, while the military established a disaster relief group to provide assistance. It sent large towboats and Marine Corps M8 vessels from Suao Harbor, as well as divers to take part in the underwater search and rescue mission.

The focus right now is on rescue work, and then later we will form a task group to determine what factors led to the collapse. In recent years, Suao has frequently experienced Beaufort scale 16 and 17 strong winds, so we will specially seek to determine if this had an effect.

This bridge spanned Nanfangao Fishing Port and was an important landmark in the region. It was constructed in 1999, and was 18 meters above sea level. It also served as an important access road between the port area and the outside, and had a viewing platform. It was managed by Taiwan International Ports Corporation, which says it will set up an investigatory task force to determine why the bridge collapsed. Nearby power lines were crushed and severed when the bridge collapsed, leaving 2,000 households without power.



油罐車正經過南方澳跨港大橋、沒料到大橋突然從中間斷裂崩塌，橋面瞬間沉陷末入水中，油罐車跟著陷落，瞬間冒出陣陣黑煙。斷裂的橋面壓到三艘漁船，船上漁工有人被壓住，有人落海，宜蘭縣消防局獲報前往救援，搶救出的人已經被分別送往市區的博愛醫院，和蘇榮醫院。

消防人員表示：「根據船主表示裡面每一艘船，都有二至三名漁工，那相關人員的確定，必須等到船主進一步確認之後才知道，不過目前我們總共動員93名的消防跟義消人員。」

宜蘭縣政府啟動大量傷患機制，國軍也成立救災小組支援，出動蘇澳港大拖艇及陸戰隊M8艇駛往大橋附近，並派遣人員下水搜救。

基隆分公司港務長 陳榮聰表示：「先救援為主，後面我們會有小組去鑑定說，到底是甚麼樣的因素讓它倒塌，這幾年蘇澳都是有16級17級的強陣風，所以這個是不是有這樣的影響，我們會特別的去把它了解。」

這座跨港大橋，是南方澳重要地標，在1999年興建，大橋離海平面18公尺，除了是港區重要聯外道路，也建置有觀景平台，主管大橋的港務公司表示後續將成立調查小組釐清斷橋原因。而受到斷橋影響，附近電線被壓斷，也造成兩千多戶停電。