Foot overbridge collapses in Mumbai’s Andheri, 5 injured
A portion of a foot overbridge collapsed due to heavy rain at Mumbai’s Andheri station on Tuesday morning, hitting suburban local train services in the city and leaving thousands of commuters stranded.
A Western Railway spokesman said five people were injured in the accident, and had to be admitted to the Cooper hospital in Juhu. Two of them reportedly suffered critical injuries.
The bridge is part of the Gokhale bridge on SV Road that connects Andheri West to East. Railway officials said the collapse damaged overhead wire structures, hampering train services on the Western and suburban lines.
Railway minister Piyush Goyal, who rushed to scene after the accident, said that local train services will be restored completely by Tuesday night. He also assured ad hoc compensation of ~1 lakh to each of the five injured, besides free medical treatment by the Railways.
“It’s an unfortunate incident, and I have ordered an inquiry into this. The commissioner of rail safety will come up with a report in 15 days,” said Goyal.
The railway minister said around 700 employees of the Railways, aided actively by experts from Delhi and Lucknow, were doing restoration work. He also stated that the Railways, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the IIT-Mumbai will conduct a joint safety audit of all the 445 road overbridges, foot overbridges and similar structures over the next six months to ensure commuter safety in the future.
Eyewitnesses reported hearing a loud bang followed by sparks in wires hanging from the bridge. Nishit Sariya, an executive in a private firm, said: “Few minutes after the train pulled out of the station, we heard a bang and the train came to an abrupt halt. Passengers panicked and jumped on the tracks. We saw part of the bridge had collapsed and overhead wire was sparking. We had a close shave.”
Railway minister Piyush Goyal tweeted that he had ordered an enquiry into the mishap. The minister also said that he had directed officials to speed up repair work and quickly restore rail traffic.
A 40-member NDRF team was pressed into service for rescue work. The debris was removed manually as machines could not be deployed at the site.
Thousands of commuters were stranded in the trains and at railway stations. Heavy rush and chaos were reported from several stations. Extra counters were operated at Dadar and Ghatkopar.
MUMBAI: