Indian State Minister Harsh Sanghvi told reporters on Monday that the death toll has climbed to at least 132 with many others.
Voiceofnaija.ng had earlier reported that 60 people were killed and many injured on Sunday after a century-old cable suspension bridge collapsed in a western part of India.
In a latest development, the State minister said the death toll has increased to 132 with dozens of people critically injured after the bridge fell in the state of Gujarat, two government officials told Reuters.
The bridge spans the Machchhu River in the Morbi district, The Hindu newspaper reported.
Sanghvi said emergency responders and rescuers worked through the night to search for survivors. Teams from the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force have been dispatched to help with the rescue, according to The Associated Press.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in his home state of Gujarat on a three-day visit, said he was “deeply saddened by the tragedy.”
About 400 people were on and around the bridge, a major tourist attraction that was built in 1880, at the time of the collapse, according to Brijesh Merja, a minister in the Gujarat government. Officials said that a majority of the people who died were children, women and older people.
Video taken at the scene purportedly showed people hanging off the partly submerged bridge, the news outlet reported.
Some people were seen swimming ashore to safety. Others, who were fished from the waters, were carried away and transported to the hospitals in private vehicles and ambulances.
Local news channels ran pictures of the missing shared by concerned relatives in search of their loved ones. Many relatives raced overnight to overcrowded hospitals looking for their kin.
The historic bridge, built during the 19th century when India was a British colony, had been closed for renovation for six months and reopened to the public last week, Reuters reported.
The bridge collapsed after it was unable to handle the number of people on it, as the Hindu festival season drew hundreds of people to the recently opened tourist attraction, The Associated Press reported.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in his home state of Gujarat on a three-day visit, said he was “deeply saddened by the tragedy.” His office announced compensation to the families of the dead and urged for speedy rescue efforts.
A vote for Gujarat’s state government — led by Modi’s party — is expected in the coming months and opposition parties have demanded an investigation into the collapse, saying that the bridge was reopened without getting safety clearance from the city’s civic body. The claim could not be independently verified, but the state government said it has formed a special team to investigate the disaster.
Modi ruled the state as the top elected official for 12 years before becoming India’s prime minister in 2014.
India’s infrastructure has long been marred by safety concerns, sometimes leading to major disasters on its highways and bridges.
The bridge collapse is Asia’s third major disaster involving large crowds in a month.
On Saturday, a Halloween crowd surge killed more than 150 mostly young people who attended festivities in Itaewon, a neighborhood in Seoul, South Korea. On 1 October, the Police in Indonesia fired tear gas at a soccer match, causing a crush that killed 132 people as spectators attempted to flee.
