A 150 year old colonial bridge suspension in Gujarat collapses in River Machuchu claiming almost 132 lives, after a cable snapped making the bridge sink.
According to the report from police on Monday 31,October , 132 people are confirmed dead from the incident, an Indian colonial-era bridge overloaded with religious revelers collapsed into the Machchhu river below.
Almost 500 people were celebrating a festival on the bridge that was built in the colonial era, nearly 150 year old bridge suspension in Morbi whereby the supporting cables snapped on Sunday night.
The old structure into the western state of Gujarat collapsed into the river below, killing a high score number of people who were celebrating while others hanged on the edge shouting for help.
“I saw the bridge collapse before my eyes,” one witness who worked all night trying to rescue people said, without giving his name.
One of the witnesses named Supran told the local media that the bridge was congested.
“The cables snapped and the bridge came down in a split second. People fell on each other and into the river,” he said.
“We pulled out people who were able to swim ashore. As most of the people had fallen into the river, we were not able to save them,” Ranjanbhai Patel, one of the Morbi residents explained the difficulties they faced to the local media.
Senior police official Ashok Kumar Yadav told AFP on Monday morning that the death toll now stood at 132. Sources said that most of the victims were women and children.
Meanwhile, around 15 other people were receiving treatment in hospital.
The bridge across Machchhu river a favourite beautiful scene for tourist attraction had been opened a week earlier after a few months of renovation.
Authorities quickly launched a rescue operation following the collapse, with boats and divers deployed to search for missing people.
Dozens of soldiers and sailors from the Indian Army and Navy were also called in for the rescue operation.
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P. Dekavadiya, the head of police in Morbi, earlier told AFP by phone that more that 130 people had been rescued.
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