While at least 140 people died in the accident, the company responsible for the renovation of the work is accused of many negligence.
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The balance sheet is very heavy. The collapse, Sunday, October 30, of a suspended pedestrian bridge, in the state of Gujarat, in the west of India, left at least 141 dead, including 47 children and a hundred injured. The work, described as the longest suspension bridge in the country, with its 233 meters, had been reopened to the public four days earlier, on October 26, for the celebration of the New Year Gujarati. Built by the British in the colonial era to step over the Machchhu river, in the city of Morbi, the 150 -year -old structure had been the subject, for seven months of a renovation provided by Ajanta Manufacturing, a subsidiary of the Oreva group (Group), a manufacturer of Gujarat -based electrical devices, better known for its clocks than for its interventions on infrastructure.
During the reopening of the bridge, the director general of Oreva, Jaysukhbhai Patel, had assured journalists that the company had made “a 100 % renovation with 20 million rupees” (around 244,000 euros) and that The bridge would not have a problem for the next ten years. However, the company had decided to restrict its access by selling tickets.
But Sunday, the cables that kept the bridge dropped around 6:30 p.m. at nightfall, while many people had gathered for a religious ceremony. The bridge collapsed in a fraction of a second, causing in its fall nearly 350 people in the river. Many have died drowned. Monday, the emergency services still raked his bed, while the condolence messages of foreign heads of state continued to flock. 2>
narendra Modi will go on site
According to the NDTV news channel, the gateway was opened prematurely to the public compared to the scheduled calendar and without the authorities having issued a certificate of conformity. The chief of the municipality of Morbi confirmed the information.
An Oreva group spokesperson explained shortly after the incident that the bridge collapsed under the effect of “too many people in the central section of the bridge who tried to switch ‘One side or on the other “. The hypothesis must be verified. The Government of Gujarat appointed a committee of five members, made up of police officers and police officers to conduct the investigation. On Monday, Gujarat police arrested nine people involved in particular in the maintenance and management of the bridge.
The drama comes in the middle of the electoral campaign in this native state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who became his fief before he joined power in 2014, and the case immediately took a political round. The Head of Government said he was “shocked and saddened” planning to go there but not before Tuesday 1 er November. He was on the road when the accident occurred.
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