Five hundred people participated in the festival of Divali, the Festival of Lights, on the deck of Morbi before the disaster, according to the authorities.
Le Monde with AFP
In India, the balance sheet increases after the collapse of a suspension bridge in the Indian State of Gujarat. At least 137 people died on the evening of Sunday, October 30, the local police chief, P. Dekavadiya, announced on Monday – a previous assessment reported 130 dead.
Nine people were also arrested Monday in relation to the collapse of this bridge located in the city of Morbi, about 200 kilometers west of Ahmedabad, the main city of the State of Gujarat. These nine people are all associated with a company that provided renovation of the bridge. They are now the subject of an investigation for manslaughter, said police officer Ashok Kumar Yadav in a press release, and a complaint against X has been filed.
The authorities evaluated 500 the number of people, including children, who celebrated divali celebrations on this work dating from the colonial era, when the supporting cables gave in shortly after night. According to the local police chief, around fifty children are among the victims, the youngest was a 2 -year -old boy. A local politician, Kalyanji Kundariya, told the press to have lost twelve family members in the disaster, including five children. Morbi police chief P. Dekavadiya told the France-Presse agency that more than 130 people had been rescued. At least fifteen injured are hospitalized.
Rescue operations still in progress
The 233 -meter -long suspension bridge was built in 1880 on the Machchhu river with materials imported from England, according to local media. Sandeepsinh Jhala, the chief of the municipality of Morbi, noted that no certificate of conformity had been issued before reopening to the public, last Wednesday, of this work.
The Gujarat Tourism Department describes the “large suspension bridge” as an “artistic and technological wonder”. According to remote monitoring images, the structure swung before giving in, precipitating dozens of people in the river.
A rescue operation with divers, boats and dozens of soldiers was still underway on Monday.
The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who was in Gujarat, of which he is from, said, on Twitter, “deeply saddened by this tragedy” and announced compensation for the victims. Mr. Modi, expected on site on Tuesday, also said that he rarely felt so much pain in his life “.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his condolences to the families of the deceased on Monday, according to a Kremlin statement. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he was “deeply saddened”. Nepal, Bhutan and the United Kingdom also presented their condolences.