Siliguri, June 27: Hit by a barrage of criticism, the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) has finally come up with a statement on Saturday’s bailey bridge collapse, 48 hours after the mishap.

No NHPC official was present at the accident site till 2 pm yesterday. The company also did not offer an official explanation of the disaster that claimed seven lives. Four contract labourers were killed and three washed away after the bridge fell into the rain-fed Teesta, when a concrete mixture-laden truck was crossing it.

An NHPC press release, issued today, says the “accident occurred due to the collision of the transit mixer vehicle with the bridge on sudden application of the brake”. A senior official said the bridge had swerved 3-4 metres to the right under its impact.

Experts, however, rubbished the claim. “The momentum created on application of the brakes of a truck cannot have such an impact that it will make a bridge give way. If dismantling work had begun and bolts and girders had been taken off or loosened, such an accident was possible,” a CPWD engineer based in Siliguri said.

The NHPC said the bridge was scheduled for dismantling from today. The truck trapped in the Teesta has been located, but not retrieved.