Deir Ezzor officially inaugurates the "Harbi" and Dirabi bridges over the Euphrates
Deir Ezzor Governorate inaugurated on Sunday the Floating Bridge (War) and the Dirt Bridge in Deir Ezzor City, and identified a new mechanism to regulate the movement of transit between the city and the Jazira region.
This came hours after a ferry sank in the Euphrates River after colliding with a pontoon bridge, killing three people, while the search for missing persons continues.
Deir Ezzor Governorate said in a statement that the dirt bridge was dedicated to the movement of vehicles entering the city, while the floating bridge was dedicated to the exit of vehicles towards the Jazira region, noting that this organization aims to reduce congestion and improve the flow of traffic.
It added that the maximum permissible load on both bridges is 25 tons, in order to maintain public safety and ensure their continued readiness for service.
According to a local source to "Syrian News", the weights of trucks allowed to pass through the military bridge were reduced from 70 tons to 25 tons as a precautionary measure in the first days of putting it into service, with a high possibility that these weights will increase later.
The source pointed out that the bridge underwent a technical inspection period that extended 48 hours before entering full service, stressing that its operation is an emergency step that will end months of daily suffering for the people in commuting, pending the completion of the rehabilitation works of the destroyed fixed bridges, especially the Al-Siyasi Bridge.
The pontoon bridge is made in Turkey
On the evening of Friday, July 10, he announced the completion of the construction of a 240-meter-long pontoon bridge over the Euphrates River, in a step described as a strategic shift that reflects the level of military and logistical coordination between the Syrian and Turkish armies after the political change in Syria at the end of 2024 (the fall of the Assad regime).
The new bridge, which was built by the Engineering Brigade, was designed to facilitate the daily movement of the people by connecting the two banks of the river, and providing a safe passage for the passage of people and goods in light of the destruction caused to the fixed bridges over the past years.
A source in Deir Ezzor province told "Syrian News" that the bridge is engineered to carry commercial trucks and heavy vehicles with a load of up to 70 tons and connects the coastal road of Al-Alis on the west bank (Shamiya) and the town of Hatla on the east bank (Al-Jazeera) in the countryside of Deir Ezzor.
Civil Defense recounts the facts of the sinking of the ferry
The incident occurred at dawn on Sunday, while transporting about 35 people on a river ferry from the bank adjacent to the city of Deir Ezzor to the opposite bank, before it suffered an engine failure and was washed away by the water of the Euphrates River.
The director of the Syrian Civil Defense "White Helmets", Munir Mustafa, said that the ferry drifted towards the Al-Siyasi bridge and hit one of its concrete pillars, which led to its capsizing and all those on board fell into the river.
Mustafa confirmed that 3 children have died so far, and the rest of the people who were on board the ferry have been recovered, as searches for possible missing persons continue, noting that rescue teams are trying to find the captain of the ferry or contact him to verify the final number of passengers.
4 teams of divers are participating in the search operations in Deir Ezzor province, supported by teams coming from Raqqa, Idlib and Aleppo, and each team includes 5 divers and a number of boats, in addition to a support team from the Ministry of Defense.
Survivor reveals cause of ferry disaster
Search teams are facing difficulties due to the speed of the flow of the Euphrates River, which may drag the drowning people to long distances, while combing operations continue from the site of the incident towards the riverbed.
Local sources also circulated information on social media about the discovery of the body of a child in the Euphrates River near the village of Al-Tabiya in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, with the possibility that she was one of the victims of the sinking of the ferry.
One of the survivors of the accident said that the ferry's engine had been malfunctioning since the beginning of the journey, and that it began to drift due to the force of the current, while the driver tried to start the engine more than once to regain control of it, but the attempts failed, and the journey ended with a strong impact on the bridge.
Residents of Deir Ezzor are resorting to ferries and rafts to move between the two banks of the Euphrates, in light of the damage or destruction of the main bridges in the province, and the exacerbation of the problem after the rise in the river's water level during the past weeks.
Ministers of Defense, Energy offer condolences to ferry victims
Minister of Defense Marhaf Abu Qusra offered his condolences and condolences to the families of the victims of the sinking of the river ferry in the Euphrates River in Deir Ezzor province, stressing the Ministry of Defense's continued support for search and rescue operations in coordination with the competent authorities.
Abu Qusra said in a post on the "X" platform on Sunday that the ministry followed up with "great pain" the incident of the sinking of the ferry, expressing his solidarity with the families of the victims, stressing the need to continue providing support to the rescue teams, in addition to working with the concerned authorities to find solutions to ensure the safety of the crossing and preserve the lives of citizens.
In the same context, Energy Minister Mohammed al-Bashir mourned the victims of the accident, expressing in a post on the "X" platform his deep sadness and regret for what happened.
He offered his condolences to the families of the victims, asking God to bless them with His mercy, and to grant the injured a speedy recovery, and for the missing to return to their families safely.