The bridge structure consisted of six pillars, with only two permanently exposed to the flow and two others implanted on a sand deposit.

This caused insufficient sediment deposit and a riverbed lowering of around 4 meters, on average, observed in the stretch of the river where the Hintze Ribeiro Bridge was located.

[2] In January 2001, two months before the disaster, the local population demonstrated against the poor state of the bridge, claiming better road accesses.

A bus from the transportation company Asadouro with 53 passengers and three cars with six other people were crossing the bridge at that moment and fell into the river.

Bodies were found inside the retrieved vehicles and on beaches of northern Portugal and the Spanish region of Galicia.

[13] The monument consists of a concrete plinth containing the names of all the victims, on top of which is a 12-metre tall bronze statue of an angel.