Six die in Pakistan bridge collapse

Source: Al Jazeera

A recently constructed road bridge has collapsed in the southern Pakistan city of Karachi, killing at least six people and injuring others.
Rescuers were trying to clear the wreckage to retrieve those trapped and injured amid fears the death toll from Saturday's accident could rise.
At least two cars and a police van were crushed under the debris, and a truck with a trailer and a minibus lay upturned by the fallen bridge.
The bridge was opened only two months ago by Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president.


Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/B42DE7FF-EE7E-47CA-BAA4-2890DA3DB08A.htm

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Brand new bridge...
No clear cause for the moment.

Once upon a time, there was a big infrastructure construction boom, just as there was a baby boom... the US even provided a lot of aid to foreign countries for it. My father told me a story of one man in a unit in Vietnam of whom he had heard who told a squad exactly how to blow up a particular bridge with just the right amount of explosives at just the right place, and someone asked him, "How do you know that?" And his reply was, "I helped build it in the Peace Corps ten years ago." Stuff like that.

So you have a lot of 40 to 50 year old bridges out there, and not all of them are in perfect condition to say the least. And once in a while, one will fall.

That's the gist anyway.

two months ago. And I'm pretty sure the one in China was a new bridge also. The one in Minneapolis was older.

But ah well.

But there's a third factor.

When Catastrophe X happens, newsfolk realize Catastrophe Like-X is newsworthy.

Perhaps the reason is that latter incidents conform to the pattern already surmised given the single token of Catastrophe X that they first reported on.

A bridge collapses in Minneapolis. It's a pattern. A bridge collapses in China ... nothing else being equal, it's a pattern. A bridge collapses in Pakistan ... still, nothing else being equal, it's part of a pattern.

Perhaps it's a case of increased sales. "Bridge collapses in China, killing 20." Eh, who cares, not local, can't relate, won't sell. "Bridge collapses in Minneapolis." Oh, the horror--fellow newspaper consumers and television viewers have suffered, they want to read about their fellow consumers, must cover story and make those responsible pay ... us. Then, "Bridge collapses in China, killing 20." But we've made it clear this is a huge disaster ... maybe we can hook viewers in by reminding them of how horrible a bridge collapse was.

Or maybe it's not the cynical increased-sales motive. Maybe it's genuine sympathy.

(And if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you. Honest, it won't collapse.)

notice similar events more than we would normally.

The same thing happens when we hear a particular word. We'll hear it again a couple of times in the next few days.

I sure am glad I live in a modern, industrialized nation where stuff like this doesn't happen. :sarcasm: