At least 75 people died Sunday evening in India, when a suspension bridge spanning a river collapsed in the state of Gujarat (west), said a member of the local government. The bridge, dating from British colonial times, had just reopened to the public after months of work. “Seventy-five people died,” a local official told AFP by telephone. He said most of the victims had drowned.
Media spoke for their part of a balance sheet of at least 90 dead, unconfirmed at this stage. A previous official report put the death toll at 60. Gujarat government official Brijesh Merja previously said more than 80 people had been rescued.
A 233 meter long bridge
The bridge over the Machchhu River, located in Morbi, about 200 kilometers west of Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s main city, dates back to British colonial times and had just reopened to the public after months of work. It was 233 meters long. Authorities estimated that 500 people, including women and children, were on and around the bridge when the cables supporting it gave way.
According to local officials quoted by media, people on the bridge were performing rituals as part of a religious festival. More than 100 people were still wanted, according to local media which showed videos of people catching hold of debris from the structure of the bridge in the dark. A rescue operation was launched, involving divers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in Gujarat, where he is from, called for “the urgent mobilization of rescue teams”, and the provision of aid for all victims, his cabinet tweeted.
Frequent accidents
Accidents on old and poorly maintained infrastructure are common in India, especially on bridges. In 2016, the rupture of a footbridge over a busy street in the city of Kolkata (east) caused the death of at least 26 people. In 2011 at least 32 people died when a bridge collapsed on which were a crowd of participants of a festival in northeast India, about 30 kilometers from the city of Darjeeling.
Less than a week later around 30 people were killed in the rupture of a footbridge crossing a river in the state of Aruchnal Pradesh (northeast). In 2006, at least 34 people were killed when a 150-year-old bridge collapsed on a passenger train at a station in the state of Bihar (east).