DAMMAM, 21 March 2008 — Two construction workers and a Civil Defense officer involved in rescue operations were killed and five others injured when part of a bridge under construction in Dammam collapsed on Wednesday afternoon.

Col. Asaad Al-Othman, spokesman for the Civil Defense, said the bridge was located at Prince Naif Street intersection on King Fahd Road. The accident took place at 1.45 p.m.

He said the Civil Defense has launched an investigation to establish the reasons for the collapse of the bridge and check whether the contractor had followed safety regulations.

Dammam Mayor Dhaifullah Al-Otaibi said the municipality stopped work on the project until investigations are over.

According to the results of a preliminary investigation, weakness of pillars due to a landslide may have been the reason for the accident.

The bridge was being built by the same company that had carried out two tunnel projects in Dammam at a total cost of SR200 million.

Meanwhile, cracks have appeared inside the tunnels on King Fahd Road. Prince Muhammad ibn Fahd, governor of the Eastern Province, has instructed the municipality to look into the cracks to ensure safety of people using the tunnels.

Informed sources said authorities had closed one of the two tunnels six times in the past to check problems related to the design and construction.

“Wednesday’s collapse of the bridge as well as construction problems of tunnels have emphasized the need for the municipality taking up technical supervision of its projects,” one source said.

Rescue workers took several hours to take out bodies of workers trapped inside the debris. A large number of people gathered around the accident site, obstructing rescue operations. The closure of the road blocked easy access to the accident site delaying arrival of ambulances to remove the injured to hospital.

Roshan Shah, who escaped with minor injuries, said there were about 200 workers at the site at the time of accident. Most of the workers disappeared from the scene soon after the accident as they were afraid to face security authorities.

The bridge, named after Prince Naif, was to be opened for traffic in two months.