a huge cargo ship with flag of Liberia crashed this Sunday afternoon against the first pillar of the Zárate Long Arm Bridge and due to the collision, navigation was interrupted at kilometer 171 of the Parana River.
According to information from the authorities, the ship it was without charge at the time of the crash and the cause would have been damage to your rudder.
“We have an empty freight ship that He headed to the port of San Lorenzo“It lost steering due to a broken rudder and grazed against one of the columns on the coast side, without causing major danger,” said Emiliano Riberas, head of the Zárate Emergency Coordination and Climate Change Directorate.
It was kept arrival of two tugboats to free the waterway. In addition, vehicular traffic on the Zárate Brazo Largo bridge was not interrupted.
“There were no explosions, it was just the blow against the column. Moments before reaching the bridge, the ship brushes against a column and suffers a crack on the right side“added Riberas, who assured that the ship does not present a risk of sinking.
This ship has a carrying capacity of 46,990 tons of dead weight, called DWT, is found in office since 2017 and this navigation began in October 2023. Since its departure, He passed through Vietnam, Singapore, Brazil and was now in Argentina, depending on the navigation applications. It is a ship 228 meters long (length) and 36.5 meters wide (width), according to data from the Naval Prefecture.
he last contact with the ship It was January 26th.
According to witnesses at the scene, the impact was heard “like a big explosion,” due to the magnitude of the boat.
The Argentine Naval Prefecture worked since dusk this Sunday to regulate maritime traffic after the collision of the Liberian ship against the pillar of the Brazo Largo Railway Complex.
This security force became aware of the accidents through a communication received in which a pilot reported that, at the time the ship was sailing upstream, it suffered problems with the rudder, for reasons that are still unknown, and lost control, colliding with the right bank of the bridge.
Prefecture highlighted coast guard and personnel specialized in this type of assistance who went to the place and confirmed that There were no injured crew members or contaminant spills..
A precedent on the Zárate Brazo Largo bridge, just a year ago
An overseas grain ship collided with the Zárate Brazo Largo bridge and caused the entire structure to “shake”, according to witnesses, the January 1, 2023.
The boat that was involved in the incident headed to the city of San Nicolás to unload at the Ternium company dock. It is a Zina ship that was built in 2012 and has a cargo capacity of 33,862 tons.
It was when it was passing under the bridge that connects Buenos Aires with the province of Entre Ríos that the captain of the ship hit one of the protections of the pilots of the mega structure that crosses the Paraná for land transit.
The impact was such that it caused a large gash to occur in the bow of the freighter, at the height of the anchors. However, those who were present at the time of the event were grateful that “the bridge had not fallen”, alarmed by the alleged tremor that the impact would have caused.
Additionally, in another accident in the same area, in December 2022, a man driving a cargo truck died when the vehicle fell from the same bridge. The victim lost control of the vehicle, got lost, and after breaking the restraining rails, fell into the void on the bank of the Paraná River.
As a result of the accident, the driver of the truck transporting general cargo died instantly after his body was left in the middle of the twisted iron.
