At least 177 survivors were pulled from the river and teams from the army, navy and air force were searching for others still missing, said Jigar Khunt, an intelligence official in Gujarat. Live video reports showed hundreds of others desperately clinging to the broken structure and trying to claw their way to safety, as crowds on land shouted or swam to try to save those trapped inside. Authorities said the 19th-century, colonial-era footbridge over the Machchhu River in the state’s Morbi district collapsed because it could not withstand the weight of the large crowd as the Hindu festival season drew hundreds of visitors to the tourist attraction that recently opened. The 232-metre-long bridge had been closed for repairs for almost six months and had reopened just four days earlier for the Gujarati New Year. Visuals from the scene of the disaster showed the bridge split in half and the metal roadway dangling, with its metal cables broken in places. Indian rescue personnel are conducting search operations after a bridge collapsed on the Machchhu River. The bridge was closed for renovations for nearly six months and reopened four days ago. (Sam Panthaky/AFP/Getty Images) Foreign Minister Hars Sanghvi told reporters that 132 people were confirmed dead and many were hospitalized in critical condition. Sanghvi said emergency responders and rescue workers worked through the night to search for survivors. Most of the victims were teenagers, women and the elderly, he said. It was not immediately clear exactly how many people were on the bridge when it collapsed, but survivors said it was so dense that the crowd was unable to move to safety when the cable strings began to snap.
“We could barely move”
“There were too many people on the bridge. We could barely move,” said Shinik Bai, 27, recovering from his injuries in a hospital bed in Morbi. Sinick said he jumped into the water when the bridge began to crack and saw his friend crushed by its metal deck. He survived the disaster by climbing the bridge and holding on to its cables, but his friend did not. “Everyone was shouting for help, but one by one everyone started disappearing into the water,” said Siddique. WATCHES | The suspension bridge reopened 4 days ago:
Criminal investigation opens into bridge collapse in India
A suspension bridge that collapsed in the Indian state of Gujarat, killing at least 133 people, had not been properly cleared for people to be on it after renovation, says freelance journalist Ishan Garg in New Delhi. Local news channels published photos of the missing people shared by concerned relatives searching for their loved ones. Many family members rushed to overcrowded hospitals in search of their relatives.
Modi “deeply saddened” by the tragedy
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in his home state of Gujarat on a three-day visit, said he was “deeply saddened by the tragedy”. His office announced compensation to the families of the dead and called for swift rescue efforts. “Rarely in my life would I have experienced such pain,” Modi said during a public event in the state on Monday. Modi ruled Gujarat as its top elected official for 12 years before becoming India’s prime minister in 2014. Gujarat state elections are expected in the coming months and opposition parties have called for an inquiry into the collapse, saying the bridge was reopened without safety clearance. The claim could not be independently verified, but the state government said it had formed a task force to investigate the disaster. Rescue personnel are conducting search operations on Sunday after a bridge collapsed on the Machchhu River. Authorities said the bridge collapsed because it could not support the weight of a large crowd. (Sam Panthaky/AFP/Getty Images) India’s infrastructure has long been marred by safety concerns, sometimes leading to major disasters on its highways and bridges. The bridge collapse is the third major disaster in Asia involving large crowds in a month. On Saturday, a Halloween mob killed more than 150, mostly young people, attending festivities in Itaewon, a neighborhood in Seoul, South Korea. On October 1, police in Indonesia fired tear gas at a soccer match, causing a stampede that killed 132 people as spectators tried to leave. Relatives of a victim mourn in Morbi on Monday. More than 130 people have died and many are feared to have been injured in the incident. (Ajit Solanki/The Associated Press)
