'Faulty planning' blamed for deadly collapse of Rio coastal cycle path

A member of Rio de Janeiro state's engineering and agriculture council blamed the fatal collapse of a section of seafront cycle path on "faulty project planning," news service Agência Brasil reported.

The section, in the Rio city neighborhood of São Conrado, crumbled on Thursday, killing two people and injuring three. One person is missing presumed dead.

The path, along the side of a road, juts out over the ocean and is supported by pillars.

"The effect of the waves [crashing] below the cycle path section was not considered, and this is what made it collapse," said Antônio Araújo, who is also a member of Brazil's bridge and structures association.

The coastal route, known as the Tim Maia cycle path, was built by Brazilian engineering group Concremat, local paper Agência Estado said. It added that the Contemat Geotecnia/Concrejato consortium had been hired to carry out stabilization work to help implement the project.

Concremat was reported as saying that building the section was complicated because of the heights and gradients involved.

Pre-molded, pre-stressed slabs of 6-12m involving straight and curved elements were chosen as part of the project.

The structure that collapsed on Thursday was over 50m long, Agência Estado said, adding that city hall engineers would inspect the entire path.

The 3.9km bike path, which was inagurated in January, links the picturesque areas of Leblon and São Contrado, two coastal neighborhoods expected to receive numerous visitors during this year's Olympic Games, kicking off on August 5.