Road collapse kills five

last updated 8 January 2015

Montreal

A three-lane section of a major thoroughfare outside Montreal collapsed last week, killing three members of one family and a couple expecting their first child. The 65-foot section of the Boulevard de la Concorde crashed onto a viaduct beneath it, crushing two cars under tons of concrete and asphalt. A work crew had inspected the bridge about an hour before the collapse, after motorists reported seeing debris on the road, but found no signs of imminent danger. A 2005 government report found that 2,200 of the province’s 4,900 bridges and overpasses were in urgent need of repair, and that 800 were “structurally deficient.”