Vietnam's President Nguyen Minh Triet (L) visits the scene of a collapsed bridge in Vietnam's Mekong Delta's Vinh Long province Sept. 27, 2007. Can Tho bridge, the longest bridge in the country's southern Mekong Delta under construction, collapsed Wednesday morning. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

    HANOI, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- As of Thursday noon, death toll in a bridge collapse in Vietnam's southern Mekong Delta rose to 64, Vietnam News Agency reported Thursday.

    The collapse of a 90-m section of an approach ramp, which is over 30 meters above the ground and leading to the six-lane Can Tho bridge, with length of nearly 16 kilometers, the longest and most modern one in the delta under construction, on Wednesday morning also injured some 180 others.

    When the accident happened, some 250 workers of the contractor TNK comprising three Japanese firms -- Taisei, Nipponsteel, and Kazima--were working at the construction site.

    Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet and Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai have come to the incident's site, instructing rescue work, visiting injured people in hospitals, and asking localities and relevant agencies to support families of death victims.

    The construction of approach ramps and the cable-braced bridge's main span over the Hau River, linking Can Tho City and Vinh Long, began in September 2004 with investment of over 4.8 trillion Vietnamese dong (302 million U.S. dollars) from official development assistance of Japan and the Vietnamese government's reciprocal capital. It is scheduled to be complete in late 2008.

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