NEW DELHI, Jul 12 (NNN-PTI) – The death toll from a bridge collapse, in the western Indian state of Gujarat, rose to 20 yesterday, officials said.
A portion of the bridge, over the Mahisagar river, collapsed on Wednesday, in Vadodara district, about 151 km south-east of Gandhinagar, the capital city of Gujarat.
Following its collapse, five to seven vehicles plying on it plunged into the river.
“The search operation has been on going since Wednesday, and today (yesterday), two more bodies were recovered, during the extraction of a truck from the riverbed, taking the death toll to 20 in the accident, so far,” an official said.
The search operation at the spot was still underway, as two more people were still missing.
The cause of the bridge collapse was unknown.
Meanwhile, the local government has suspended four engineers from the Public Works Department, in connection with the matter.
Gujarat Chief Minister, Bhupendra Patel, has ordered an inquiry into the accident, promising a detailed report within 30 days.
The bridge was built in 1985. It connects Anand and Vadodara districts. Heavy lorries seeking to avoid tolls on the six-lane Mumbai-Ahmedabad national highway had been increasingly using this crossover.– NNN-PTI
