PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A bridge collapsed amid heavy rains in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 39 people, an official said.

Local residents gather at the site of bridge collapsed in Mardan, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Peshawar, Pakistan on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2006. A crowded bridge collapsed amid heavy rains in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, flinging pedestrians and cars into a flooded stream and killing at least 35 people, an official said.[AP]

About 200 people were standing on the bridge in Mardan, a small city about 30 miles west of Peshawar, when it suddenly collapsed, said Himayatullah Mayar, the district mayor.

The collapse dropped pedestrians and vehicles into a flooded stream.

Rescuers pulled 39 bodies from the rubble of the bridge and the floodwater, said Ibrahim Buland, a deputy mayor.

Dozens of people have died across Pakistan in recent weeks because of monsoon rains, landslides and flash floods. The rains have forced authorities to open the spillway to a major dam near Islamabad for the first time in five years.