Week Two

It’s 12pm. You are working for the BBC Wales online news desk in Bangor.

"Disaster" as Menai Bridge Collapses

The Menai Suspension bridge between Bangor and Anglesey has collapsed, leaving at least five people dead, the RNLI confirmed this afternoon.  

>The bridge, which was completed in 1826 by civil engineer Thomas Telford, measuring 476 metres in length and 12 metres in width, is the main route of access for vehicles from Bangor to the isolated island of Anglesey.

North Wales Police, working with the North Wales Fire and Rescue services deployed from Bangor, Caernarfon, Llangefni and Conwy, and with the RAF Sea King helicopter from Valley, Anglesey have advised the public to stay away from the bridge.

The A55 Britannia Bridge is also closed for safety measures.

The RNLI lifeboat from Beaumaris has been forced to withdraw from the area due to strong winds hampering attempts to approach.

RNLI Operations Director George Evans stated “there has clearly been a significant loss of life” after confirming the five deaths.

Evans assures the public “We are working closely with the police, fire service and the RAF to coordinate the rescue mission, which will proceed once we know it is safe to return to the bridge.

It has been decided for the time being there is little that can be done to save lives at sea level. It is more important that we patrol the area on the Eastern side to keep away other boats”.

Eyewitnesses to the scene described hearing a loud roar and seeing cars falling into the river.

Justin Graves, 20, a student at Bangor University, described the disaster as “like something out of a film. One minute the bridge was fine, then it collapsed from the middle. It only took a few seconds”

Myra Wigley, 35, from Y Felinheli said “The road just fell out before me. The noise was terrible. There was this big roar as the bridge itself gave way, then everything fell into the river”

Councillor Roger Jones, 25, of Llanfairpwll was jogging along Beach Road next to the Menai Strait when the incident occurred. He described seeing an estimate of thirty cars falling into the river.

He said “I have lived here all my life and I remember when the Britannia Bridge burned down in 1970. This was much, much worse”

The disaster Jones describes is the event of May 23^rd, 1970, when a group of teenagers walking home from a party accidentally set the bridge alight.

The teenagers were using a piece of burning paper as a light when they dropped it into the bridge, which ravaged the wooden structure, built in 1850 by Robert Stephenson, and burned for nine hours.

The teenagers were not prosecuted, and the bridge was rebuilt ten years later.

British Transport Police have assured that the Menai Suspension bridge, which was the largest suspension bridge worldwide at the time of its completion, undergoes regular checks.

The bridge was last checked on August 28^th of this year, with no issues found.

It is still unclear what caused the collapse of the bridge, and RNLI are attempting to restart the rescue mission of the missing peoples as soon as they are assured it is safe to approach the scene.

An incident room at Normal Site in Bangor has been set up for the public.

Image: Katharine (@Kathryn) on Twitter this afternoon