At least 15 people were killed after several vehicles fell into a river when the span of a busy bridge in Gujarat’s Vadodara collapsed early Wednesday morning, exposing a shocking apathy in maintenance and inviting condemnation and corruption charges from the opposition Congress.
Trucks, a SUV and a pickup van fell into the river after a span of the Gambhira-Mujpur Bridge in Padra Taluka collapsed.
Fire brigade teams, local police and district administration members rushed to the spot for rescue work. Locals also joined in.
Out of the 15 confirmed dead, six have been identified as Vaidik Padiyar (45), Naitik Padiyar (45), Hasmukh Parmar (32), Ramesh Padiyar (32), Wakhasingh Jadhav (26) and Praveen Jadhav (26), according to NDTV.
The area has been cordoned off to prevent further accidents.
The bridge, which connects Anand and Vadodara, collapsed during peak morning traffic hours at around 730 am.
One of the 23 spans of the four-decades-old Gambhira Bridge, connecting Mujpur in Vadodara to Gambhira in Anand district suddenly gave way, causing at least four vehicles to plunge into the river, media reports quoting eye witnesses said.
“The vehicles fell one after the other. As soon as we saw this, we turned our boats towards the vehicles and started efforts to rescue the people,” fisherman Narendra Mali told NDTV. He said two trucks, a car, a pick-up van and some bikes fell into the river.
The state government has announced INR 4 lakh as compensation for the next of kins of the people who lost their lives.
The office of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an X post said: “The loss of lives due to the collapse of a bridge in Vadodara district, Gujarat, is deeply saddening. Condolences to those who have lost their loved ones. May the injured recover soon.”
“An ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of each deceased. The injured would be given Rs. 50,000: PM,” the post said.
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel wrote on X, “The collapse of a span of the Gambhira Bridge, connecting Anand and Vadodara, has caused an accident that is deeply distressing to the heart. The state government stands with full compassion alongside every family affected by this tragedy.”
Slamming the state government over the bridge collapse, senior Congress leader Amit Chavda said, “The collapse of the Gambhira Bridge connecting Anand is not an accident, but a result of the Gujarat government’s negligence. Our demand from the government is to inspect all bridges across Gujarat and present their safety certificates in the public domain.”
A probe to find out the cause of the collapse has been ordered.
