The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Kathmandu

Sixteen people were killed and 25 still missing from the collapse of a bridge in west Nepal, police said Thursday, calling it a "miracle" the toll was not higher.

"There was panic at the scene when the bridge fell (on Tuesday) so initial estimates were too high. It's a miracle not a larger number of people died," district officer Anik Kumar Pandey said by telephone from the remote area.

Police had earlier said they feared hundreds of people had died when the 500-metre (1,650-foot) bridge plunged into the gorge 380 kilometres (240 miles) west of the capital Kathmandu.