Bridge collapse in India leads to 9 arrests as rescuers recount ‘traumatic’ Diwali disaster

Morbi, India — Nine people were arrested on Monday in connection with the collapse of the pedestrian bridge in western India that killed nearly 140 people, police said. The nine people arrested – all linked to a company that maintained the Morbi bridge – are being investigated for premeditated murder, not murder, senior police officer Ashok Kumar Yadav said in a statement.

A bridge that was inaugurated a few days ago after months of renovation collapsed on Sunday evening, sending hundreds of people plunging into a river in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat. Authorities said about 500 people were celebrating the final day of the Diwali festival on and around the nearly 150-year-old suspension bridge when the support cables snapped.

CCTV footage showed the structure swaying – several people appeared to be deliberately rocking it – before it suddenly gave way.

The walkway and one fence crashed into the Machchu River, leaving the other side hanging in the air as people fell into the water in the dark.

“I saw the bridge collapse before my eyes,” said one eyewitness, who worked through the night on rescue operations, but did not give his name. “It was traumatic when a woman showed me a picture of her daughter and asked if I had saved her. I couldn’t tell her that her daughter was dead.’

Supran, another witness, said the bridge, which is a popular tourist attraction, was “killed”.

“The cables snapped and the bridge fell in a split second. People fell on top of each other and into the river,” he told local media.

After the collapse, people clung to the twisted remains of the bridge or tried to swim to safety in the dark.

Many Indians cannot swim, and another Morbi resident, Ranjanbhai Patel, said he helped pull those who were able to reach shore.

“Since most of the people fell into the river, we could not save them,” he said.

The head of the local police, P. Dekavadia, said that 137 people had died by Monday. They had about 50 children, the youngest being a two-year-old boy. Ashok Yadav, the regional inspector general of police, earlier said 141 deaths had been confirmed, but he later revised the number down.

Local MP Kalyanji Kundaria told the media that 12 members of the family, including five children, were killed in the accident.

Immediately after the collapse, the authorities started a rescue operation: boats and divers searched the river all night and all Monday.

The 764-foot-long and about five-foot-wide bridge was reportedly inaugurated in 1880 by the British colonial authorities and made of materials shipped from England.

Gujarat’s tourism department describes the “magnificent suspension bridge” about 120 miles west of the state’s capital Ahmedabad as an “artistic and technological marvel.”

Sandipsinh Jhala, head of the Morbi municipality, said the bridge had not received a safety certificate after recent repairs.

Reports identified the firm that carried out the repairs as a unit of the Gujarat-based Oreva Group, which bills itself as the world’s largest watchmaker and also makes lighting fixtures and e-bikes. The company could not be reached for comment.

Modi, who was due to visit the site on Tuesday, said he had “perhaps never felt so much pain in his life”.

Moscow and New Delhi have enjoyed close ties for decades, and the Kremlin said in a statement that Russian President Vladimir Putin had sent his condolences.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he was “deeply saddened”, while Nepal, Bhutan, Britain and France also sent messages of support.

Accidents due to old and poorly maintained infrastructure, including bridges, are common in India.

In 2016, at least 26 people were killed when a flyover collapsed onto a busy street in Kolkata.

Five years ago, at least 32 people died when a packed bridge collapsed in the hill resort of Darjeeling.