Lobito — Road traffic between the municipalities of Caimbambo and Cubal, in the province of Benguela, is temporarily interrupted, due to the partial collapse of the bridge over the Halo River, ANGOP learned on Wednesday.

The bridge, with two lanes, measures 124 meters long, ten meters wide and supports over 50 tons of weight.

Speaking to the press, the municipal administrator of Caimbambo, José Ferreira, attributed the incident to the heavy rains that hit the region, damaging one side of the bridge.

As an immediate action, the administrator said that there are already teams on the ground, namely from the National Institute of Roads of Angola (INEA) and road construction companies, carrying out preliminary work.

'We would like to take this opportunity to thank these teams for their prompt response so that the situation can be restored soon', he stated.

On the other hand, the director of INEA, Domingos Cipriano, who was also on site, confirmed the intervention of Conduril company, which is currently carrying out the work of storing rocks to be applied to the damaged area (joints) of the bridge.

The bridge abutments are transition elements between the bridge structure and the embankment, and have the dual function of supporting the infrastructure and protecting the embankment against erosion.

'The work is expected to be completed within three days,' the director stated.

Meanwhile, truck drivers lament the inconvenience caused by the rains, anxiously waiting for the situation to be restored as quickly as possible.

Trucks, taxi drivers, private cars and passengers are piling up at the site, both those coming from Huambo to Benguela or Huíla and vice versa. TC/CRB/DOJ