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‘Gujarat bridge came down in a split second’: Morbi locals recall horror
Gujarat bridge collapse: Hundreds of people had crowded onto what is popularly known as the “hanging bridge” in Morbi in the moments before it gave way at 6.42pm on Sunday, leaving at least 70 people dead and dozens more feared drowned.
Hundreds of people had crowded onto what is popularly known as the “hanging bridge” in Gujarat’s Morbi in the moments before it gave way at 6.42pm on Sunday, leaving at least 70 people dead and dozens more feared drowned.
While details of the dead were not immediately available, the medical superintendent of Morbi Civil Hospital said most of the victims at the hospital were children who died of drowning.
“The condition of some of the injured was critical,” he said, adding that the toll could rise by Monday morning.
Eyewitnesses said the incident took place in a split second. “The bridge was jam-packed at the time of the accident as many people had come due to Diwali vacations,” said Supran, who identified using just one name and lives just across the bridge.
“The cables snapped and the bridge came down within a spilt of a second. People fell on each other and into the river. Some managed to hold on the side bars of the bridge,” he said, questioning why local authorities , allowed so many people onto the suspension bridge in the first place.
“We tried to save as many people as possible. We pulled out people who were able to swim ashore. As most of the people had fallen into middle of the river, we were not able to save them. The local authorities took its time to reach the accident site,” another local resident, who identified himself as Ranjanbhai Patel, told a local news channel.
Videos on social media showed people clinging onto the partly submerged bridge in distress while another showed people swimming to safety.
“I had come to the river bank along with friends after my office hours when we heard the sound of the bridge snapping. We rushed there and jumped into the water to save people,” news agency PTI quoted another eyewitness said.
“We rescued some children and women,” he added.
The Morbi bridge collapse is one of the deadliest of such disasters in India in recent decades. It was last in 2016 when a flyover in Kolkata partially collapsed onto a busy street, claiming the lives of at least 26 people.
In October, 2011, at least 32 people were killed when a bridge packed with festival crowds collapsed about 30 kilometres from Darjeeling.
Less than a week later, around 30 people were killed when a footbridge over a river in Arunachal Pradesh collapsed.
As night fell, officials said a Gujarat State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) team closer to Morbi reached the accident site at around 7:30 pm, taking almost an hour since the narrow approach roads to the bridge were clogged due to Chath Puja rush.
Morbi has large number of tile manufacturing units, where a large number of migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar work and therefore, Chhath Puja is the major festival. The time of the accident coincided with immersion of Chhath Puja idols, officials said, terming this a reason for delay in starting rescue.
