MORBI, India – At least 132 people have died after an ancient rope suspension bridge collapsed into a river Sunday evening in the western Indian state of Gujarat, leaving hundreds in the water in one of the worst accidents in the country in the past decade, officials said.
Authorities said the 19th-century colonial-era pedestrian bridge over the Machchu River in the state’s Morbi district collapsed as it could not handle the weight of the large crowd as the Hindu festival season drew hundreds of people to the newly opened tourist attraction . The bridge was closed for renovations for nearly six months and reopened just four days ago.
It was not immediately clear how many people were on the 761-meter bridge, but officials fear the death toll could rise. Minister of State Harsh Sanghvi told reporters that so far 132 people had died and many had been hospitalized in critical condition.
Sanghvi said aid workers and rescue workers worked at night to search for the survivors and that the dead and injured were mainly teenagers, women and the elderly. Teams from the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force were also sent to assist with the rescue.
Videos posted on social media showed people in distress clinging to the metal cables of the partially submerged bridge, while emergency services and rescue workers used boats and inflatable tires to reach them. Some people were seen swimming to the shore to get to safety. Others, who were fished out of the water, were carried away and taken to hospitals in private vehicles and ambulances.
Local news outlets posted photos of the missing that were shared by concerned relatives looking for their loved ones. Many relatives ran into crowded hospitals at night looking for their relatives.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in his home state of Gujarat for a three-day visit, said he was “deeply saddened by the tragedy”. His office announced compensation for the families of the dead and urged rapid rescue efforts.
A vote for Gujarat’s state government – led by Modi’s party – is expected in the coming months and opposition parties have demanded an investigation into the collapse, saying the bridge was reopened without security clearance from the city’s public body. The claim could not be independently verified, but the state government said it formed a special team to investigate the disaster.
Modi ruled the state as the highest elected official for 12 years before becoming Prime Minister of India in 2014.
India’s infrastructure has long been marred by security problems, sometimes leading to major disasters on highways and bridges.
The bridge collapse is the third major disaster in Asia with large crowds in a month.
On Saturday, more than 150 people were killed in a Halloween crowd, mostly young people attending festivities in Itaewon, a neighborhood in Seoul, South Korea. On October 1, police in Indonesia fired tear gas at a football match, killing 132 people as spectators tried to flee.