'Boat crash' halts works on Wouri 2nd bridge

According to recent reports, a boat crashed into the temporary bridge on Tuesday, resulting in the suspension of work on the viaduct.

This incident has bent the pedestrian walkway out of alignment. The walkway reportedly hangs above the water. Complete diagnosis has not yet been made because the technical team expects that insurers will need to inspect the site in order to make their findings before any further works will be done here.

The accident which happened on Tuesday, January 20, around 17: 00 on the construction of the second bridge over the Wouri caused a considerable level of damage.

On the site yesterday, the CT team learned from Didier Lepage, project manager, that a boat "of more than 100 m long", assigned to the transport of debris from dredging the channel of the Wouri, hit the bridge set for the easy transfer of materials for the construction works.

The work for those who are at the side of the viaduct has been stopped to "Set security", according to Didier Lepage. "We have on this boom of concrete, steel, three large cranes weighing 150 to 180 tonnes," he said. In other words, we want to take no risk.

Additional pressure on an already proven book could prove catastrophic. "The diagnosis starts Monday," continued the project manager, who reported that experts are expected on site to fix the problem. "We hope that some work will resume in three weeks in the least or at most two months," he added.

The prefect of the Wouri, Naseri Paul Bea, was also on the site and after a tour in the water, closer to the point of impact, he found serious damage and wished that everything is implemented for the possible resumption of work.