A suspension bridge in India collapsed and killed at least 140 people, including children, who were plunged into the river. Authorities said that the bridge had undergone some repairs and had been reopened recently.
Video footage taken minutes before the bridge’s collapse shows young people taking pictures while others trying to rock it from side to side before cables holding the bridge together snapped and sent people tumbling into the river.
Harshi Sanghavi, Gujarat Home Minister, said that authorities estimated around 200 people had been on the bridge in Morbi, Gujarat, before it collapsed on Sunday evening.
Gujarat state has filed a criminal complaint against the company contracted to repair and maintain the bridge. The 230-meter-long bridge was built during the British colonial era in the 1800s, and it reopened last week after undergoing renovations.
Ashok Yadav, a Senior Police official, said that law enforcement had arrested nine people responsible for the bridge’s management, including renovations and maintenance.
Photos from the scene’s aftermath showed people gathered at the river bank and rescuers in inflatable boats searching for survivors.
According to Sanghavi, a special investigation committee of five has been formed to investigate the tragic incident. Although he did not say how many people were missing, videos on social media showed numerous people in the water after the bridge collapsed.
The Oreva Group, a well-known electrical appliance manufacturer in Gujarat, is the company that has been contracted to maintain and repair the bridge for the past 15 years.
Sandeep Singh Zala, Morbi Municipality Chief Officer, said that the company did not inform the city that they planned to reopen the bridge. She said that the city had not issued a fitness certificate for the bridge.
Before Oreva Group took over, the city’s municipality maintained the bridge, which at one point only allowed 20 people on the bridge at a time.
Oreva Group had sold tickets to over 400 people, who flocked to the colonial-era footbridge for the Diwali and Chhath Puja celebrations.
Almost 40 of the victims were children below the age of 14.
Witnesses said people were hanging on to the bridge when it collapsed but eventually slipped and fell into the river.
NK Muchhar, a Senior Government Official, at first said that 134 people had been pronounced dead, while another official said that muddy waters at the river made it hard for the rescue operation to go on smoothly, adding that the bridge’s remains may have trapped some people under it. The numbers of victims increased and are expected to go higher.
An Oreva Spokesperson said that although they were waiting for more information about the incident, they speculated that the bridge collapsed because of overcrowding and because people in the middle of the bridge tried to sway it from side to side.
Yadav, a senior government official, said during a press briefing on Monday that 56 people had been discharged from the hospital while seven were still receiving medical care.
India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who was Gujarat’s former Chief Minister, consoled the families of the deceased victims and said that the National Relief Fund would compensate the families of all victims.
According to Gujarat’s current Chief Minister, Bhupendra Patel, the national government would compensate each family of the deceased with the equivalent of $5,000 while the injured would receive $600.
