Suspension bridge collapse in India kills at least 133 | So Good News

At least 133 people were killed and the army searched for missing people on Monday after a 143-year-old suspension bridge collapsed in India’s western state of Gujarat, killing hundreds of people and plunging them into the water. It was the country’s worst accident in years.

As the families mourned the dead, The bridge, built by the British in the late 1800s, has become a focus of attention as to why it is collapsing, and who is to blame.

The local government awarded a 15-year contract to Morbi-based company Ajanta Manufacturing Pvt to maintain and manage the bridge. Ltd. mainly watches, It is known for making mosquito nets and electric bicycles.

The bridge was reopened on October 26 across a wide section of the Machchu River. It was the first day of the Gujarati New Year, which coincides with the Hindu festival season, and the newly reopened venue attracted hundreds of visitors.

Morbi town official Sandeepsinh Zala told the Indian Express newspaper that the company had “reopened the bridge without obtaining a certificate of fitness”. Disaster

Authorities said the building collapsed under the weight of hundreds of people. Security footage shows the bridge shaking violently and people trying to place ropes and green metal fencing into the river before crossing the aluminum walkway on the sidewalk.

Images from the disaster site showed the bridge split in the middle, the metal walkway dangling and its cables severed in places. At least 177 survivors were pulled from the river and the army, Teams from the navy and air force are searching for others who are still missing, said Jiga Khun, an information department official in Gujarat.

State Minister Harsh Sanghvi told reporters that 133 people had been confirmed dead and many others were hospitalized in critical condition. Emergency responders and rescuers worked overnight to search for survivors. Most of the victims were teenagers. They are women and the elderly, he said.

It’s unclear how many people were on the bridge when it collapsed, but survivors said the crowd was so dense when the cable began to snap that they couldn’t move to safety quickly enough.

“There are too many people on the bridge. We cannot move,” said 27-year-old Sidik Bai as he recovered from his injuries in a hospital bed in Morbi.

When the bridge began to crack, Sidik said, he jumped into the water and saw his friend collapsed on the metal walkway. He clung to the ropes of the bridge and survived, but his friend did not.

“Everyone was screaming for help, but one by one they started disappearing in the water,” Sidik said.

Local news channels saw photos of the missing shared by concerned relatives and family members rushing to crowded hospitals looking for their loved ones.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on a visit to his home state of Gujarat, said he was “deeply saddened by the tragedy”. His office announced compensation for the families of the victims and called for quick relief efforts.

“Will you ever experience such a rare pain in my life?” Modi said at a public event in the state on Monday.

Modi was elected chief minister of Gujarat 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.

The bridge collapse is Asia’s third largest mass casualty disaster in a month.

South Korea on Saturday In Itaewon, a neighborhood in Seoul, more than 150 youths, most of whom attended the festival, were killed. On October 1, Indonesian police fired tear gas at a soccer match, killing 132 fans as fans tried to flee.

India’s infrastructure has long been plagued by safety concerns, and Mordi has suffered other major disasters. In 1979, a dam on the Machchu River burst, sending walls of water into the city, killing hundreds of people in India’s biggest dam failure.

In 2001, an earthquake in Gujarat killed thousands of people. The town of Morbi, 85 miles (150 km) from the epicenter in Bhuj, was extensively damaged. According to the Times of India newspaper, the bridge that collapsed on Sunday was severely damaged.