According to officials, at least 132 people drowned in India when a colonial-era pedestrian bridge that was packed with religious celebrants collapsed into the river below.
The roughly 150-year-old Morbi suspension bridge’s supporting cables snapped after hours on Sunday, according to the authorities, as about 500 people were enjoying a festival there and nearby.
Numerous individuals were spilled into the river as a structure in the western state of Gujarat collapsed while others desperately clung to the debris while yelling for aid.
“I saw the bridge collapse before my eyes,” an unnamed witness who spent the entire night trying to save individuals said.
“It was traumatic when a woman showed me a photo of her daughter and asked if I had rescued her. I could not tell her that her daughter had died.”
The bridge was “jam-packed,” according to Supran, another witness who spoke to local media.
“The cables snapped, and the bridge came down in a split second. People fell on each other and into the river,” he said.
Another Morbi resident, Ranjanbhai Patel, spoke to the local media about the challenges he and others experienced when trying to rescue people and get them to safety.
“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,” he said.
On Monday morning, senior police official Ashok Kumar Yadav informed AFP that there had been 132 fatalities to date. The majority of the victims, according to sources, were women and children. The hospital was treating about 15 additional patients.
A well-known tourist destination, the bridge over the Machchhu River, had only recently reopened following months of renovations.
News stories featured images of individuals scrambling up the twisted bridge rubble or attempting to swim to safety at night.
Earlier, P. Dekavadiya, the Morbi police chief, told AFP over the phone that more than 130 people had been saved.
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