Five hurt in Canadian overpass collapse

Rescue workers at the scene of the collapsed highway overpass road in Montreal. Picture / Reuters

At least five people were injured earlier today (NZ time) after an expressway overpass collapsed in a Montreal suburb, and others could be trapped underneath a tangle of concrete debris, emergency officials said.

Andre Champagne, a spokesman for ambulance service Urgence Sante, said that three of the victims had serious injuries.

Live video images taken by helicopter and broadcast on LCN showed a large section of the overpass had collapsed, with three vehicles jammed among concrete beams and slabs of asphalt roadbed.

A motorcycle also lay atop the massive fallen slab.

Emergency officials could not immediately say whether vehicles were also trapped under the collapsed overpass.

The collapse occurred on Boulevard de la Concorde, a busy road that crosses over Autoroute 19 in the suburb of Laval, just north of Montreal.

Live television images showed a three-lane section of the overpass collapsed over all six lanes of the road underneath.

Emergency officials brought a large crane to the site in an effort to lift the fallen road.

Several motorists told LCN they had called police up to one hour before the collapse to report seeing fissures appearing in the overpass roadbed and chunks of concrete falling to the road below.

- REUTERS