OLA, Ark. (AP) - Officials believe a trucker hauling frozen chickens was lost and relying on GPS when he drove across a rural Arkansas bridge and caused the nearly 90-year-old span to collapse into a river.
Jeff Gilkey, with the Yell County Office of Emergency Management , said Friday that the driver wasn’t hurt but was cited for violating bridge weight standards.
Gilkey says a crane would be used to clear Wednesday night’s accident site near Ola (OH’-luh). The 18-wheeler remains tangled with bridge debris in the Petit (PET’-ee) Jean River.
The bridge, built in 1930, has a posted weight limit of 6 tons (5.44 metric tons). The rig weighed more than 30 tons (27.22 metric tons) with a load from Wayne Farms in Danville, Arkansas.
Gilkey also says the driver isn’t fluent in English and an interpreter was summoned.
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