Crane and wagons tumble into river as bridge collapses

A 60-tonne crane and two railway wagons tumbled into the Nuhaka River, north of Wairoa, early this morning as two spans of the bridge they were travelling across collapsed under the weight of the crane.

Ontrack, which maintains rail tracks on behalf of Toll, confirmed that no-one was injured as there were no staff on the crane when the accident happened, at 7.20am.

The crane was one of two on their way to the bridge to repair a faulty pile, but the pile collapsed under the weight of the crane as it passed over, sending the equipment and two wagons tumbling into the river below, Ontrack chief operating officer William Peet said in a statement.

"It's naturally a matter of concern that a bridge pile should fail, but it wouldn't be appropriate to comment further until investigations have been completed."

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission had already been notified and investigators were travelling to the site today, Mr Peet said.

Ontrack is also working with the regional council to minimise any potential spillage of diesel from the crane into the river.

The bridge is about 20km north of Wairoa, is 100 metres long and about 9m above the river.

It is part of the Napier-Gisborne rail line, which Ontrack has budgeted spending $1.3 million to upgrade, and is one of eight projects currently being worked on.

In the year-to-date, almost $500,000 has been spent.

- NZPA