How The Bailey Bridge Built By Army In 31 Hours Will Help Rescue Operations In Wayanad

New Delhi: The Indian Army on Thursday completed the construction of a Bailey bridge to connect the worst affected areas in the landslides in Kerala’s Wayanad as search continued for survivors and bodies.

The bridge, Cl 24 Bailey Bridge connects Chooralmala with Mundakkai over the Iruvanipzha River and was completed in a record time. It was opened for public use on Thursday at 5.50 pm, the Army said in a statement.

The bridge can withstand a weight of 24 tonnes and is 190 feet long, the Army said, according to India Today.

After the completion, Major General VT Mathews, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Karnataka Kerala Sub-Area, passed from the bridge in his official vehicle.

The panels, each 10ft long, for the Bailey bridge were shipped from  Bengaluru in 20 trucks to Chooralmala on Tuesday, July 30, the same day the landslide struck Wayanad, Major General Mathew, spearheading the operation told ONManorama. A total of 19 steel panels were used to build the 190-ft  bridge, which is supported by a single pier.

At least 289 people have been killed after massive landslides struck Kerala’s Wayanad district. With nearly 200 people missing, the death toll is expected to rise.

Fact File

• The landslides occurred around 2 am and 4.10 am on Tuesday, catching people off-guard in their sleep.
• The villages of Mundakkai, Chooralmala, Attamala, and Noolpuzha have been devastated by the massive landslides triggered by torrential rains.
• According to Kerala’s Revenue Minister K Rajan, over 1,600 rescue workers, including from the Army, Navy, NDRF and the police have been in the landslide-hit region carrying out the intensive rescue mission.
• Political leaders, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, among others, visited the displaced people, expressing their solidarity with them.

What is a Bailey bridge?

A Bailey bridge is a type of portable, pre-fabricated, truss bridge. It was developed in 1940–1941 by the British for military use during the Second World War and saw extensive use by British, Canadian and American military engineering units.

Where does it get the name from?

Introduced in 1940 by a British engineer Sir Donald Bailey, the concept behind the Bailey Bridge was to provide a temporary bridge that could rapidly and manually be erected in wartime conditions and that could sustain the load of heavy tanks and other machinery.