Biker survives being struck by falling bridge – as only one person is injured in horror crash that saw lorry bring Kent walkway down
Arm of a digger on the back of a truck slammed into concrete overpass
DRIVERS had a miracle escape yesterday after a truck smash sent a bridge crashing down onto a busy motorway.
One biker who saw the carnage unfolding in front of him had to throw himself off and slide through a tiny gap to avoid being crushed by falling concrete.
The man, in his 50s, was seen lying under his bike and taken to hospital with broken ribs.
Meanwhile, another lorry that was passing under the devastated structure as it crashed down was sliced in two.
The driver of that vehicle was treated for shock at the scene.
Incredibly no one was killed in the incident on the busy M20 which left drivers heading off for Bank Holiday breaks trapped in 15-mile tailbacks.
Kent Police last night confirmed that a digger being transported on the back of an HGV had collided with the pedestrian footbridge between Junction 3 — for Gatwick and the M26 — and Junction 4.
Pictures from the scene showed half of the bridge still hanging over the coast-bound side of the road.
Alex Magaisa was driving his family past the lorry involved on the London-bound stretch as the bridge collapsed at midday.
He said: “My instinct was to just drive through. My wife saw the bridge falling and there was a big noise. I had to manoeuvre through the debris.
“We stopped afterwards for about 30 minutes and there was another car with a family behind us. Luckily no one seemed to have been hurt.”
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The Kent University lecturer, 41, had been on his way to Gatwick airport to catch a flight to Belfast to see family.
He added: “It’s a big shock. It’s only just starting to sink in now what might have happened.
“We were in the line of fire and could have been crushed.”
Cops have launched an investigation after a major incident was declared on the motorway — which is a key route between London and Dover and the Channel Tunnel near Folkestone.
Immediately after the crash stunned motorists left their gridlocked vehicles to get a closer look at the destruction.
Chris Alchin, 21, was in the car with his mum Cathy on his way to Maidstone, Kent, having flown into Gatwick.
He said: “As we approached we could see cars stopped so we knew something was going on.
“And when we first saw the lorries it looked like a normal crash, but as we passed and saw the bridge the horror of what had happened set in.
“You instantly think the worst and my mum even said, ‘There will definitely be fatalities’. The lorry was completely crushed.
“It is definitely the worst thing I have ever seen.”
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Chris, a trainee aerospace procurement officer from Hampshire, added: “My mum and I had to drive under the other half of the bridge which was just hanging there. It looked like it could collapse at any minute. It is quite scary to think back but at the time you just do it.
“There were bits of rubble from the collapse on our side of the road too so everyone had to move into the middle lane.”
The M20 remained shut all day and was not expected to open until midday today at the earliest.
Natasha Najam arrived at the scene with her husband and kids just after the collapse.
She said: “We were about to go on holiday for the weekend. We’ve already told the kids we’re not going on holiday right now.”
Yesterday’s mayhem erupted on one of the busiest weekends for traffic this year.
Twice the number of cars are expected to take to the road compared to the late August Bank Holiday weekend last year.
Five million getaways were planned for yesterday alone — twice the 2.5million on the same day in 2015.
The RAC, which conducted the research, said a huge 20.7million cars would be using major roads for leisure trips between Thursday and Monday.
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