MORBI: Bodies piled up overnight in graveyards and crematoriums of this historical Gujarat town, famous for its clocks and ceramics, as the toll in Sunday's suspension footbridge collapse mounted to 134 — including 48 children — amid a continued search for more victims and improbable survivors in the algae-covered Machchhu river.
Nine people were arrested, two of them managers of the Oreva Group that recently renovated the 143-year-old British-built footbridge, and charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder after the district administration filed an FIR that doesn't name the company or any individual. Two ticketing clerks, as many sub-contractors and three security guards make up the rest of the list.
IGP (Rajkot range) Ashok Yadav said the arrests were based on the known facts of the case so far, declining to say why nobody from the senior management of Oreva, makers of Ajanta clocks, had been mentioned in the FIR. “Whoever is found responsible will be named as the probe proceeds,” he said.
As the clamour to fix responsibility for the tragedy mounted, Morbi was left counting its dead as military divers scoured the 25-foot-deep river for bodies of those missing since the bridge collapsed. Although police claimed all those missing had been accounted for, the search will resume Wednesday, officials said.
Government hospitals in the town treated 56 people, of whom 15 are still to be discharged. Till late afternoon, people were spotted dashing in and out of hospitals with pictures of loved ones in the hope of either finding them alive. More often than not, the desperate search would culminate in the devastating feeling of being led to the morgue and seeing the shroud lift off a familiar face.
Two days before the bridge had been reopened to the public on October 26, coinciding with the Gujarati New Year, Oreva Group promoter Jaysukh Patel had told reporters in Morbi that the structure would easily survive another 15 years after having undergone “100% renovation”.
Sources said the five-member special investigation team formed by the government to probe the collapse suggested lapses in renovation by the contractor, besides poor crowd management that led to a more than 400-strong holiday crowd being perched on the bridge when it gave way.
Morbi Municipality apparently doesn't have any data on the load capacity of the bridge, prompting the administration to call in structural engineers and a Forensic Science Laboratory team to find out the technical details required to arrive at a conclusion. “It is estimated that 125-150 people can take the bridge at a time. They are allowed to walk, but not stand and wait at any spot,” an official said.
While the renovated bridge was open to crowds for four days leading to the weekend, nobody in the administration had apparently checked whether the stipulated safety certifications had been issued prior to that. Video footage of the accident shows some people vigorously rocking the suspension bridge and metal carriageway in the last few seconds leading to the collapse.
IGP Yadav said, “We have sent a questionnaire to Morbi Municipality, seeking details about the reopening of the bridge, official checks conducted before the opening, and the civic body's role in the project. Based on the replies, we will proceed.”
According to the FIR filed by Prakash Dekavadia, an inspector with Morbi B Division police, the bridge collapsed around 6.30pm Sunday. “Around 250 to 300 people, including kids, women and elderly people, were on the bridge at the time of the collapse. I called the police control room and asked for additional forces from Morbi district,” the report states. “The bridge collapsed for want of proper maintenance and management... This is an act of criminal negligence which resulted in the tragedy.”
The arrested people were identified as Oreva managers Dipak Parekh and Dinesh Dave, ticket collectors Mansukh Valji and Madev Solanki, sub-contractors Prakash Parmar and Devang Parmar, and guards Alpesh Gohil, Dinesh Gohil and Mukesh Chauhan.
