Desk Report
Publish: 31 Oct 2022, 07:11 pm
Rescuers searched for survivors at night || Photo: AFP
At least 141 people have died after a British-era bridge in
Gujarat's Morbi collapsed last evening. Some 177 people have been saved and
teams are searching for several others who are still missing.
A rescue operation - begun after a pedestrian suspension
bridge collapsed in India's western state of Gujarat - has been scaled down as
hopes fade of more survivors being found.
The 140-year-old structure in Morbi town reopened a week ago
after repairs.
There was overcrowding on the bridge - a major local tourist
attraction - at the time it collapsed, officials said.
Police are questioning eight people in connection with the
incident, a police official confirmed to BBC Gujarati. Those being questioned
included security personnel and ticket sellers.
The official refused to confirm whether employees from Oreva
Group, the firm which was in charge of maintaining the bridge, are also being
questioned.
Questions have been raised over why Oreva Group, a company
which once described itself as the "world's largest clock manufacturing
company" - before it also began making lighting products, battery-operated
bikes, home appliances and TV sets - was given responsibility for maintaining a
bridge.
Concerns have also been raised about whether safety checks
were carried out before the bridge was reopened.
The 230m (754ft) bridge on the Machchhu river was built in
1880, during British rule in India.
In travel brochures, a visit to the Julto Pul (or the
Hanging Bridge) is listed among "the top 10 things to do in Morbi"
and it attracts a large number of sightseers and local people on holidays and
at festivals.
Officials have not yet said how many people were on the
bridge when tragedy struck at around 18:40 (13:10 GMT) on Sunday, but estimates
put it between 400 and 500.
On Monday morning, a dozen boats with members of the
national and state disaster response teams searched for survivors while divers
from the Indian navy were on standby, reported BBC Gujarati's Roxy Gagdekar who
was at the scene.
Four cranes were deployed to pull out the wreckage and
rescuers looked for bodies trapped underneath._Agencies
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