BRIDGE DEATH TOLL CLIMBS PAST 120
AHMEDABAD: At least 120 people were killed in India after a colonial-era pedestrian bridge collapsed, sending scores of people tumbling into the river below, police said.
Authorities said nearly 500 people, including women and children, were celebrating a religious festival on and around the nearly 150-year-old suspension bridge in western India when cables supporting it snapped soon after dark on Sunday, local time.
This brought the rickety structure in the state of Gujarat crashing into the river, spilling scores of people into the water while others clung desperately to the wreckage.
“We have recovered 120 bodies so far. The toll is likely to increase as the search operation continues,” Morbi police chief P. Dekavadiya said, adding more than 130 people had been rescued.
The bridge over the Machchhu river around 200km west of Gujarat’s main city, Ahmedabad, had been reopened only several days earlier after months of repairs.
“People fell on top of each other after the bridge collapsed. People had flocked to the bridge for rituals and because of the Diwali festival. Many children and women were among the victims,” one witness told local media.
News reports showed videos of people hanging onto what remained of the bridge or trying to swim to safety in the dark.
The pedestrian bridge was 233m long and 1.5m wide. It was constructed in 1880 by British colonial authorities with materials shipped from England, reports said.
Broadcaster NDTV reported it had reopened on Wednesday after seven months of repairs, despite not having a safety certificate, and that video footage from Saturday showed it swaying wildly.