1975 Vilnius bridge collapse left its death toll unresolved

The collapse of an unfinished pontoon bridge in Vilnius in 1975 killed an unknown number of people, and questions about the disaster remain, LRT reported in its documentary series Lithuanian Disasters.

The bridge gave way on the evening of April 13, as a large crowd left a concert by Hungarian rock band Sirius at the Vilnius Concert and Sports Palace. The disaster happened just 10 days after the Žasliai train disaster. Soviet authorities tried to conceal the scale of the bridge collapse, and the number of victims remains unknown.

Some concertgoers had crossed the bridge earlier that evening. Witnesses later disagreed about whether it had been properly closed to pedestrians. Rinaldas Kedikas said he had used the Green Bridge because the pontoon bridge was blocked and unfinished, with no side railings. Aldona Tamonytė-Dorrity recalled seeing no signs prohibiting pedestrians from crossing, although she noticed the missing railings.

The concert, attended by about 4,500 people, ended after 10 p.m. As the crowd headed towards the bridge, Tamonytė-Dorrity felt it sway. People ahead of her began running back. Cables holding the bridge snapped, and people who had not reached the bank fell into the Neris River. She said she was the last person to jump safely onto the bank.

Other survivors described people being swept away, while some were left on a detached section of the bridge that ran aground in the middle of the river and gradually sank. A group also became stranded on part of the pontoon near the bank. Rimantas Daugelavičius, who had been crossing with his girlfriend, said they survived by stepping into the icy water rather than holding on to the bridge.

Eglė Čobotienė, who was 16 at the time, reached the bank with a friend. Her brother, who had also attended the concert, ended up in the river. She recalled watching from shore as people struggled to get out of the water.