![\"Gujarat](\"https:\/\/c.ndtvimg.com\/2022-10\/fiosmamc_gujarat-bridge_625x300_31_October_22.jpg\"\/ "\\"Gujarat")
<\/div>\nRescue personnel conduct search operations after the bridge collapsed in Morbi.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Morbi: <\/b><\/p>\n
Nine people were arrested Monday in connection with the collapse of a pedestrian bridge in Gujarat that killed more than 130 people, police said.<\/p>\n
The nine — all associated with a company that maintained the bridge in Morbi — were being investigated for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, senior police officer Ashok Kumar Yadav said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The bridge, which had reopened days earlier after months of renovation, collapsed on Sunday evening, sending hundreds tumbling into the river in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat.<\/p>\n
Authorities said nearly 500 people were on and around the nearly 150-year-old suspension bridge when supporting cables snapped.<\/p>\n
CCTV footage showed the structure swaying — with a few people apparently deliberately rocking it — before it suddenly gave way.<\/p>\n
The walkway and one fence crashed into the Machchhu river, leaving the other side dangling in mid-air as people fell into the water in the dark.<\/p>\n
“I saw the bridge collapse before my eyes,” said one witness who worked all night on rescue efforts, without giving his name.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
Supran, another witness, said the bridge, which was a popular tourist attraction, was “jam-packed”.<\/p>\n
“The cables snapped and the bridge came down in a split second. People fell on each other and into the river,” he told local media.<\/p>\n
After the collapse, people clung to the twisted remains of the bridge or tried to swim to safety in the dark.<\/p>\n
Another Morbi resident, Ranjanbhai Patel, said he helped pull out those who had been able to reach the banks.<\/p>\n
“As most of the people had fallen into the river, we were not able to save them,” he said.<\/p>\n
Local police chief P Dekavadiya said that by Monday afternoon the death count was more than 130. They included 47 children, the youngest being a two-year-old boy.<\/p>\n
One local MP, Kalyanji Kundariya, told media he had lost 12 family members in the accident, including five children.<\/p>\n
‘No certificate’<\/p>\n
Authorities launched a rescue operation immediately following the collapse, with boats and divers searching the river all night and throughout Monday.<\/p>\n
The bridge, 233 metres (764 feet) long and 1.5 metres wide, was inaugurated in 1880 by British colonial authorities and made with materials shipped from England, reports said.<\/p>\n
The Gujarat tourist department describes the “grand suspension bridge” about 200 kilometres (120 miles) west of the state’s main city, Ahmedabad, as an “artistic and technological marvel”.<\/p>\n
Sandeepsinh Jhala, Morbi municipality’s chief officer, said the bridge had not been issued a safety certificate after the recent repair work.<\/p>\n
Reports named the firm that carried out the repairs as a unit of the Gujarat-based Oreva group, which describes itself as the world’s largest clock manufacturer, and also makes lighting products and e-bikes. The company could not immediately be reached for comment.<\/p>\n
PM Modi, who was due to visit the site on Tuesday, said that he “may rarely have experienced so much pain in my life”.<\/p>\n
Moscow and New Delhi have enjoyed close relations for decades and the Kremlin said in a statement that Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his condolences.<\/p>\n
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he was “deeply saddened” while Nepal, Bhutan, Britain and France also sent messages of support.<\/p>\n
Accidents from old and poorly maintained infrastructure, including bridges, are common in India.<\/p>\n
In 2016, the collapse of a flyover onto a busy street in Kolkata killed at least 26 people.<\/p>\n
Five years earlier, at least 32 people perished when a packed bridge collapsed in the hill resort of Darjeeling.<\/p>\n
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