Gujarat bridge collapse: Death toll rises to 16

The death toll in the collapse of a bridge over the Mahisagar river in Gujarat’s Vadodara district climbed to 16 on Thursday (July 10), officials said.

Also read: Gambhira bridge collapse adds to India's long list of similar disasters

The search operation is continuing for three to four missing persons.

On Wednesday morning, several vehicles fell into the Mahisagar river after a portion of the four-decade-old bridge, connecting Anand and Vadodara districts, caved in near Gambhira village close to Padra town of Vadodara.

16 bodies recovered

"So far, 16 bodies have been recovered, while three to four persons are still missing," Vadodara district Superintendent of Police Rohan Anand said.

"The search and rescue operation is still on," he said.

Vadodara Collector Anil Dhameliya has said earlier that teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) are conducting a search in the river to find out the survivors, if any, or bodies of the victims.

"Teams of the NDRF and SDRF are conducting a search up to four kilometres downstream the river...People can call our control room to inform us about other missing persons," he told reporters at the site.

Construction of special bridge

"Rain and a thick layer of mud in the river is making the rescue operation a challenging task because no machine is working in such a situation. A special bridge is being constructed on the shore to get closer to the drowned vehicles in the middle of the river," the collector said.

A slab of the Gambhira-Mujpur bridge, which connects central Gujarat to the Saurashtra region of the state, collapsed at around 7 am on Wednesday. This caused vehicles passing through the bridge to plunge into the river, the officials said.

Five out of the nine rescued persons suffered injuries and were undergoing treatment at the SSG Hospital in Vadodara, the district SP has said, adding that none of the injured was in a critical condition.