The driver of a truck carrying pigs had a narrow escape and a woman motorist came within inches of plunging into a river when a bridge collapsed in north Kerry yesterday.
The light steel bridge over the Brick river at Ballynagare snapped in the centre as the truck made its way over it from Lixnaw village shortly after 11.30am.
The specially designed white pig carrier with air holes was divided into three sections and was carrying 250 pigs.
At least some of the pigs in the bottom section were drowned when the bridge collapsed and the remainder were trapped on the truck.
Fire birgade and other rescue services were still present at the scene late last evening.
A crane arrived from Midleton at around 8pm, with a view to lifting the truck and allowing the pigs to be unloaded.
Kerry Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals inspector Harry McDaid monitored the situation at the scene. He said he was satisfied every effort was being made to save the pigs.
"I am quite satisfied with what is being done. The bridge has snapped in the middle and the wagon is on a slope. If the wagon moves the whole bridge can collapse and the whole vehicle will spin into the river and then all the pigs will be lost. The bridge is very fragile."
A county council spokesman last night said an investigation was being carried out.
A 12-tonne limit was clearly indicated on signs on approach roads to the bridge, the spokesman said.
The truck driver was described as shocked but uninjured.
Mechanic Denis Buckley, who lives nearby, told of how a local woman travelling in a car behind the pig transporter had a narrow escape when the bridge collapsed.
"The front wheels of her car were on the bridge as it collapsed. This is a busy road," Mr Buckley said.
The car had been suspended on the bridge, he added.
The woman's husband, a local farmer, arrived with a tractor and removed the car.
The bridge was built in 1993 by the Army to replace an old structure when it was feared the by-road would be closed by Kerry County Council due to lack of funding.
Just before Christmas a structural report to the county council confirmed a 12-tonne limit and found that the bridge was satisfactory.