Two police officers were killed when a road bridge collapsed in western Colombia, authorities said, not ruling out the possibility of an attack.

Vehicles, including three police and a public utility truck, were stranded when part of the bridge connecting Kindio and Valle del Cauca, crossing the La Vieja River, suddenly collapsed yesterday Wednesday.

Two police trucks loaded with weapons, two others carrying various materials and another vehicle were involved in the crash, authorities said, leaving two policemen dead and fifteen injured.

Horrifying images, taken on mobile phones moments after the crash, are doing the rounds on social media sites.

“We cannot rule out any cause,” the director of the national infrastructure agency (ANI), William Camargo, said during an interview with a Colombian radio station.

The authorities are conducting an investigation to determine whether the collapse was due to the progressive deterioration of the bridge – which was built in 1968 – due to the passage of heavy loads, a fault in its maintenance, or a “human hand”, in other words sabotage, Mr Camargo said.

“Solidarity to the families of the victims. I ordered an investigation to be carried out to find out the causes of the collapse of the bridge and to identify who is responsible”, President Gustavos Petros commented on Twitter.

The accident affects the transport of goods from the central part of the country to Buenaventura, where Colombia’s main port on the Pacific coast is located.