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The police in northern Spain are under fire for their actions after it was revealed that a resident complained about the poor state of a coastal pedestrian bridge less than 24 hours prior to its collapse.
Six people died on Tuesday when a wooden path that ran along the rocky cliff near Santander suddenly collapsed.
Seven students were walking across a bridge located near El Bocal’s coastal area when it collapsed. They fell to the rocks below.
After the accident, one victim was rescued successfully. The other victims were found dead later.
Santander’s mayor admitted the tragedy was avoidable after revealing that local police ignored an earlier warning.
On Monday afternoon, just after midday, a nearby resident called police and requested an emergency 112 response.
READ MORE: Four dead and two missing following a wooden bridge collapse over rocky cliffs, northern Spain
The local police officer that received the call didn’t flag it as being a serious threat and so nothing was done about the condition of this bridge.
It is unacceptable to ” [an officer] “They will be distracted even if they don’t understand how urgent it is,” said Gema, the mayor of Partido Popular.
“A Santander policeman or a local officer knows that you’re in serious danger if you fall onto the rocks. This lack of urgency is not accurate, and I will refer to the facts.
“I can’t say that the accident happened because a police officer didn’t do his job. But we could have avoided it if they had acted as they did on previous occasions when this call was received.”
The mayor cited the example of an officer closing off pedestrian access to La Maruca bridge in 2024 after receiving a call about a partial collapse.
She attempted to deflect responsibility for the maintenance and repair of the bridge. She told reporters that it was the responsibility of the Environmental Ministry, not the City Council.
In response, the government department said her claim ‘does not correspond to reality’, but that they did not want to say more to avoid ‘contributing to fuelling controversy or generating more noise’. There will be a chance to clarify each of [her claims] “We will only act when it is appropriate and we have all the information needed on hand,” said a source within the department. El Pais Newspaper on Friday
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