In a most unusual incident thieves on Monday stole an entire bridge, apparently for its scrap metal, in the western province of Kocaeli.

The 22-ton bridge, which was 25 meters long, was in a village in Kocaeli’s Gölçük district and was regularly used by villagers to cross a creek to reach their orchards. The villagers were astonished to discover the disappearance of the bridge on Monday morning as they were making their way to the orchards and immediately alerted the police.

Police arrived at the scene and determined that the bridge had been cut apart and loaded onto a truck by the thieves. They believe the bridge was stolen for scrap metal. Its worth was an estimated TL 20,000.

Mustafa Karakaş, one of the villagers, told the İhlas news agency that he couldn’t understand how a bridge could be stolen, saying it was unbelievable.

“Now we have to take our socks off and cross the creek,” Karakaş said.

Police have launched an investigation to capture the perpetrators.