Chennai: At least 30 women participating in a marathon were injured when a temporary wooden bridge collapsed at Island Grounds on Sunday morning. One woman fell into the Cooum but was immediately pulled out while two others lost their mobile phones and another lost her car key.
Police claimed that the bridge had been blocked from public use using asbestos sheets, but some participants trespassed and used the bridge when it collapsed.
They estimated that nearly 3,000 women reached Island Grounds to participate in the Pinkathon, in the city 5.30 am. Police said the temporary bridge with wooden planks surrounded by asbestos sheets had been put up in December during the exhibition to connect the ground that housed the fair and a temporary parking lot.
“Three such bridges were set up in the ground. However, after the exhibition, the court had issued an order end January restricting the bridge from public use and hence its entrance was covered with wooden barricades. But the women, to find a shortcut to the ground, walked over it when the bridge collapsed,” Police said. They did not register a case.
