Morbi bridge collapse: Toll reaches 140, scores missing

Morbi: The toll in the pedestrian bridge collapse in Morbi, Gujarat, climbed to 142 on Monday, with rescue agencies saying they were still looking for several missing people. Officials put the number of people undergoing treatment at various hospitals at more than 130.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a three-day visit to Gujarat, cancelled a roadshow in Ahmedabad but continued with his scheduled events on Monday. He spoke at Kevadia, near the Statue of Unity, on the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and addressed another rally at Banaskantha in the north of Gujarat.

The prime minister said he was in a dilemma whether to cancel his programmes. “On the one hand there is the call of duty; on the other, the pain and suffering of the Morbi victims,” Mr Modi said, with a lump in his throat. Mr Modi, who is expected to reach Morbi today, held a meeting with Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and top bureaucrats on Monday evening to take stock of the relief and rescue work, officials said.

The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, however, cancelled their election programmes and leaders of the two parties made it a point to reach the accident spot. The political jockeying took place as the state government ordered a five-member special investigation team to probe the tragedy.

Nine arrested, FIR filed

The Morbi police arrested nine people, including managers of Oreva Group, a maker of clocks and e-bikes, which was outsourced the upkeep of the colonial era structure, and the ticket-sellers and security personnel at the bridge.

The police have lodged an FIR and applied various sections of the Indian Penal Code against them, including 304 (culpable homicide). No Morbi municipality or district collectorate officer or staff have been named in the document.

Those arrested are Dinesh Dave and Deepak Parekh, managers at Oreva Group, ticketcounter clerks Mansukh Topia and Madev Solanki, and security guards Alpesh Gohil, Prakash Parmar, Dilip Gohil, Mukesh Chauhan and Deepak Parmar.

The FIR, registered at Morbi ‘B’ division station on Sunday night, held “agencies responsible for maintenance and management of the hanging bridge” as the main accused, although it did not name anyone. The FIR said the incident was the result of the agency’s “callous approach.

“Persons concerned or agencies did not pay attention to the quality of maintenance as well as repair work of the bridge. The bridge was opened for tourists despite the knowledge that their callous attitude towards the maintenance and management may lead to human deaths,” it said.