The crash in Iceland that killed three British tourists happened on a type of bridge identified by authorities as out of date and potentially dangerous.
One in four of the island’s single-lane bridges are more than 60 years old, according to a report published in August by the Federation of Icelandic Industries.
The report, which is based on government research, said: “Many single bridges do not meet today’s standards in bearing capacity and traffic safety.
“There has been very little renewal in recent years, and many large projects await solutions related to the protection of older bridges, maintenance of tunnels and restorations.”
Britons Rajshree and Khushboo Laturia, and 10-month-old Shreeprabha Laturia, died when the 4×4 they were travelling in careered off a bridge on Thursday. Four others remain in a critical condition.
Soon afterwards, the country’s prime minister, Katrin Jakobsdottir, claimed that Iceland’s transport system had “not been maintained properly” since the financial crisis of 2008 – and warned it was in “dire need” of improvement.
The bridge over Nupsvotn was built in 1973 and is due to be replaced in the next few years by a much shorter bridge, according to information from the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration.
There have been at least eight other fatalities in that area of Iceland during 2018,
Bergthora Thorkelsdottir said: “This system has been built in the last 100 years by a nation of 355,000 people and now we have 2.5 million tourists on the roads, so obviously the strain on the system has increased dramatically.”