/ 4 February 1999

BRIDGE CRACKS NOT CHECKED

THE surface of the Inyaka Bridge showed cracks more than a month before it collapsed, according to testimony at the inquiry into the disaster in Pretoria on Wednesday. Fourteen people died when the bridge, near Bushbuckridge, collapsed last July 6. Contract manager for construction company Concor Les Wardaugh testified that work on the bridge continued despite the cracks, and they were not monitored or repaired. Wardaugh said the cracks were all less than a millimetre wide and there were no signs the bridge would collapse. He said the disaster was due to deficiencies in the design of the bridge.