A 37-year-old truck driver from Tamil Nadu was rescued after his vehicle fell into Kali River following the collapse of a bridge at Karwar in Karnataka's Uttara Kannada district in the early hours of Wednesday.
The collapse of the bridge led to traffic jam on the national highway 66, connecting Goa to Karnataka.
Murugan had managed to climb onto his vehicle after breaking the windshield of the truck, which was heading towards Karnataka's Hubballi from Goa.
A patrol officer noticed Murugan on top of the vehicle, following which he was rescued and rushed to a hospital in Karwar.
Superintendent of Police (Karwar) M Narayana said that the driver is admitted to the Karwar Institute of Medical Sciences and Hospital, is in a stable condition and is recovering.
"Our night patrolling team noticed the collapsed bridge and alerted the control room. There was a truck in the river and the injured driver was on top of the vehicle. The local fishermen along with our team managed to rescue the driver," Narayana said.
The SP further added that initially one section of the bridge had fallen into the water, however, within the next ten minutes, the remaining two sections also collapsed.
Officials noted that expert swimmers and police were trying to find whether other vehicles might have fallen before the truck.
Karwar police noted that traffic came to a halt for some time after the incident. But later, vehicles -- except heavy ones -- were allowed to pass through.
Goa's Canacona police station in-charge Harish Raut Desai, meanwhile, said that traffic movement on the new bridge was restricted as the Karnataka authorities were checking its stability after the collapse of the old bridge.
Additionally, an FIR has also been registered in connection with the incident.
