A FERRY has collided with a bridge pillar in Brazil’s Amazon region, causing the span’s central road to collapse into the Moju River.
Para state Governor Helder Barbalho told reporters that witnesses reported seeing two small cars fall into the water during the accident on a highway leading to the port city of Belem, the state capital.
It was unknown how many people were in the cars, and fire department scuba divers were searching the river.
The state government said the five crew members on the ferry survived, but it had no information about any victims as about 650 feet of the half-mile bridge collapsed.
“Right now our priority is to speed up the search for the victims and give total support to their families,” Barbalho said in an initial statement.
MEANWHILE, protesters from the yellow vest movement took to the streets of France for the 21st weekend in a row, with thousands marching across Paris.
Riot police rounded up a group of protesters who had invaded the city’s busy ring-road on Saturday, with officers firing a round of tear gas to stop others from entering a ramp on to the road.
In the north-west of the country in Rouen, Normandy, police fired tear gas in a showdown with protesters after rubbish bins and other items were set on fire.
The Interior Ministry put the numbers at 22,300 participants nationwide and 3500 in Paris – the lowest attendances since the yellow vest protests started on November 17. The movement routinely contests the government’s attendance figures.
ELSEWHERE, officials in Pakistan say they will release the first batch of 360 Indian prisoners detained for fishing illegally in the country’s territorial waters in the Arabian sea.
Prison official Munir Ahmed said that 100 prisoners will travel by train under police guard to the eastern city of Lahore before being handed over to Indian authorities at the Wahga border crossing today.
Pakistani and Indian maritime agencies frequently arrest each other’s fishermen on charges of illegal fishing.
The detainees are often held in prison until such goodwill gestures are shown from either side.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry has said the remaining Indian prisoners will be released this month.
FINALLY, a 20-year-old man has died and at least four people have been injured in an outbreak of gunfire near Copenhagen in what appears to be a clash between criminal gangs, police in Denmark have said.
The shootings in the residential neighbourhood of Rungsted late on Saturday have led to the arrest of 14 people after raids in several areas.
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