Indian authorities reported Monday the arrest of at least nine persons involved in the accident of the bridge that collapsed this Sunday afternoon in the west of the country and that has so far left 134 dead and more than 60 wounded.
The Police Superintendent of the town of DiseasesRahul Tripathi, in the state of Gujaratwhere the event took place, confirmed to EFE the arrest of nine people allegedly related to the tragedy.
Among those arrested are two managers of the Oreva company, responsible for the renovation of this centennial bridge, which was reopened four days ago after being closed to the public for seven months for renovations.
Also, two contractors, two ticket clerks and three security guards They were arrested, Police Inspector General Ashok Kumar Yadav told the press.
The official assured that a investigation to find out what happened and it is expected that more arrests will be made of those responsible for the renovation of this bridge, who are accused of involuntary manslaughter.
Some 100 ambulances, more than 40 medical teams, two teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDFR) and the State Force, six units of the Army and 30 of the air force, 50 troops of the navy and 18 boats were deployed to help the victims of this incident, the most serious of its kind registered in recent decades in the country Yadav specified.
Thousands of people crossed the bridge
The accident took place yesterday afternoon around 6:30 p.m. local time (1:00 p.m. GMT), when the cables of a suspension bridge in the town of Morbi, on which hundreds of people were walking, They began to give way until the collapse of the structure.
Images recorded after the accident show dozens of people following clinging to the ends They were left standing to avoid falling into the water.
The head of the municipality, Sandeepsinh Jhalaassured that, although the operators opened the bridge to the public, the regional authorities had not granted the suitability permit after the renovation.
Despite this, in recent days several thousand people had visited this pedestrian crossing, located on the Machchhu River and built nearly 150 years ago.
described as “engineering marvel”, This pedestrian crossing was a crowded attraction in the town, and at the time of the accident it is presumed that between 400 and 500 people were in the area, and more than a hundred fell into the river.
“Three sounds and the bridge broke”
Ashwin Mehraone of the survivors of the tragedy, told the local news agency ANI the moment he saw a group of young people shaking the structure when “They heard three noises and the bridge broke.”
Both Mehra and his friend Prakash managed to save themselves clinging to the branches of a nearby tree, he added.
Migul Rawal, another survivor, did not have the same fate: fell into the river and now he must undergo an operation on his leg, according to the newspaper “India Today”.
“There was a lot of traffic. People were running on both sides. The bridge was also shaking a lot. We, the people of Morbi, go over that bridge very often, but we have never seen it shake so much,” he said.
Visit de Modi
India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, visit the accident site tomorrow to support the victims.
The Indian president announced a compensation of 200,000 rupees, or about $2,400, for the families of the deceased, and 5,000 rupees or $60 for the wounded.