At least four people were killed when a highway overpass collapsed in Laval, north of Montreal, sending tonnes of concrete onto two cars, police said on Sunday.
Three of the victims were in one of the cars, while a fourth was in the second vehicle.
At least four people died and six were injured after the overpass collapsed.
(Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)
Crane operators recovered the wrecked cars early Sunday after crews worked for nearly 15 hours to clear tonnes of rubble.
They loaded the vehicles onto a flatbed truck and took them to a municipal garage.
Debris fell ahead of collapse
Reports say people saw chunks of concrete falling from the overpass, about one hour before it crumbled around 12:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Transport Quebec spokesman Mario St-Pierre told a Montreal newspaper, the Gazette, a maintenance crew was dispatched to the scene to clean up the pieces of concrete that had fallen.
"Portions of structures like this fall off all the time and most of the time that does not affect the stability of the bridge," he told the paper.
A stretch of three lanes of the viaduct, part of Boulevard de la Concorde, gave way, dropping onto Highway 19 below.
The collapse sent six vehicles and a motorcycle on the overpass plunging 15 metres. Six people in those vehicles were hurt, two critically.
Robert Hotte of Laval was driving east on Boulevard de la Concorde when his car fell to the highway below. He and his girlfriend escaped with minor injuries.
"I saw just in front of me the bridge collapsing," he told CBC News. "Then it became all dark. We managed to get out from my side window."
This is the second bridge to come down in Laval in seven years. In 2000, an overpass under construction collapsed killing one man. Inspectors are now checking all bridges in the area to make sure they are sound.
Deadly Overpass Collapse
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