Bridge collapse snaps Tripura-Bangladesh road link in Moulvibazar

Road link between Bangladesh and Tripura remained cut off since Saturday as the bridge that connecting Kailashahar to Moulvibazar collapsed due to the onrush of flood waters.

The part of the bridge adjacent to Sharifpur union of Kulaura upazila went under water due to erosion of earthly base of the bridge, a government official told this correspondent.

Following the collapse, all import-export activities at Chatlapur land port have been halted and many people remain stranded on each side of the Monu river.

No repair work has been started yet to restore the important road link.

“We are planning to construct a Bailey bridge on the route,” Mintu Ranjan Debnath, executive engineer of Roads and Highways in Moulvibazar, told this correspondent.

Md Junab Ali, chairman of Sharifpur union said, the bridge is around 20 years old but “such incident never occured” before.

Jamal Hosen, immigration officer of the area said, “Many passengers from Bangladesh and India are stuck on both sides of the collapsed bridge."

Thousands of people have been marooned as incessant rainfall this week coupled with onrush of hilly water triggered flooding in three districts of Sylhet division and some upazilas of Rangamati, Khagrachhari, Feni, Chittagong and Cox's Bazar.

Thousands of residents of 90 villages have been waterlogged in two upazilas of Moulvibazar and one upazila of Habiganj in Sylhet Division as the Khowai, Manu and Dhalai rivers swelled up. Floods also hit the Indian state of Assam, which usually has a ripple effect in this division.

The Manu was flowing 175 centimetres above the danger level at Manu Railway Bridge point in Kulaura upazila of Moulvibazar till Thursday.