River bridge collapse kills two labourers in Odisha

A casual worker named Mayaram who used to work there said his son and his cousin were killed in the mishap.

At least two labourers were crushed to death when a section of a river bridge under repair in Bolangir district of Odisha collapsed on Wednesday.

The two labourer died while undertaking repair work on a bridge connecting two towns in Patnagarh district. (HT Archive)

The incident took place during construction of the bridge over the Suktel river of Bolangir district on Wednesday morning when the bridge connecting Tamia and Mudalasar under Patnagarh block collapsed. Repair works were undertaken on a section of the bridge which was constructed in 2015. The deceased workers hailed from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh.

A casual worker named Mayaram who used to work there said his son and his cousin were killed in the mishap.

Tehsildar Pushpanjali Panda who oversaw the rescue operation, said one body has been retrieved and efforts are on to retrieve the body of the other labourer.

The bridge was constructed over the Suktel river with an expenditure of Rs 7 crore to connect Tamia and Mudalsar. The bridge was inaugurated in July 2015 but defects were spotted on the bridge a few years later.