Sandöbron over Ångermanälven, 31 August 1939

The Silence at Sandöbron

On 31 August 1939 workers were building what was meant to be the world's longest concrete bridge across the Ångermanälven. At 16:40 a terrible crash was heard. The giant wooden formwork buckled, shook, and plunged straight into the rushing water. Eighteen men died. The catastrophe should have dominated every front page, but the next day the Second World War began and the headlines belonged to Europe. The bridge was eventually finished; the silence around the collapse remained.