Special tanks will pull the demolished footbridge out of the Elbe River in Nymburk

Nymburk - Special tanks will today pull the collapsed footbridge structure from the Elbe River in Nymburk, which the company has been demolishing since Friday. Today's operation will start after 8:00, and it is unclear how long the retrieval of the footbridge from the river will take. It won't be safe to retrieve the debris from the water, as the towing cables could break. The safety zone will therefore be larger during the retrieval of the footbridge than during Friday's demolition.

The collapsed footbridge will be pulled from the river to the bank by two specialized machines, with one on standby in case the power of the two tanks is insufficient. The special tanks were provided by the firefighters and the machines came from Přerov, České Budějovice, and Havlíčkův Brod.

The city ordered the footbridge to be demolished due to the risk of collapse. It was of the same design as the footbridge in Prague-Troja, which collapsed on its own last December. During the demolition in Nymburk, it was confirmed that the cables of the footbridge were severely corroded.

On Friday, the footbridge fell into the Elbe about an hour into the demolition work. The work machine with hydraulic shears managed to cut about 25 percent of the cables. It was originally assumed that about half of them would need to be severed.