LARKANA, June 6: A 20-year-old bridge over Ghar Wah (canal) near Lal Bakhsh Baloch village, four kilometres from here, collapsed on Thursday, cutting off the only road link between scores of villages on both sides of the canal.

According to villagers, the bridge had got weakened by continuous lifting of sand from near its pillars for years. The irrigation department had looked the other way as tractors and trolleys lifted the sand, said villagers.

The bridge came down immediately after water was released into the canal, cutting off villages of Syed Ghulam Qadir Shah, Darya Khan Umrani, Ali Jan Korkani, Achhi Masjid, Shahul Umrani and others from each other.

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