It is reported that on the evening of the 30th, a suspension bridge in Morbie County, Gujarat, India suddenly collapsed, causing most of the bridges to fall into the water, and many casualties. Indian media said that before the collapse, the Morby Suspension Bridge was a popular local attraction with a history of nearly 150 years and many people would come here to visit. And recently, it was during the traditional Hindu festival Diwali and Khatpuja festival, and more people were visiting; it was estimated that 400-500 people might have gathered on the bridge before the incident, most of which fell into the river at the moment the bridge collapsed.
This afternoon, Indian TV station updated the news: local officials said that the number of casualties has risen to 130, and it is not ruled out that the injured and the dead will increase further. The personnel involved in the rescue at the scene told reporters that most of the bodies salvaged were women and children, and many missing persons were not found. The rescue operation last night was greatly hindered by the dim sky, and many people who fell into the river were entangled by algae , causing death. According to this information, many people suspected that there were not only about 500 people on the bridge at the time of the incident, but more than a thousand people were likely to have gathered, because there were different reports from all parties, so it was difficult to obtain specific information.
and then more information was exposed: the bridge is not the "dangerous bridge in disrepair" rumored on the Internet, but it was only opened to the public on the 26th after 7 months of maintenance. The maintenance costs alone reached the Rs 20 million, so they charged visitors for a fee. As for the reason for the collapse, some TV stations said that the bridge was seriously exceeded the limit, and some people continued to surge upward, causing accidents; some media said that someone on the bridge was deliberately shaking and "carnival", which could easily cause structural changes and cause dangers when it exceeded the limit; but some reports pointed out that under the intentional control of the scenic spot, the people on the bridge did not overtake the limit, which was entirely caused by cutting corners on the bridge maintenance. Such serious casualties and injuries were very rare.
What is embarrassing is that on the same day, Indian Prime Minister Modi was inspecting Gujarat , listening to the report of political achievements by the chief ministers and officials here, and suddenly there was news of the collapse of the bridge. He immediately expressed his "gratitude at the tragedy that took place in Morbi County, Gujarat" and ordered help. Modi also exposed the preliminary compensation: the families of the victims can receive a pension of 2 million rupees (about 17,000 yuan), while the injured will receive a pension of 50,000 rupees. This compensation also made many people very dissatisfied: the scenic spots take responsibility, but the government has given too little, and they should bear the cost for ineffective maintenance.
In addition, because the bridge has not collapsed for 150 years, an accident immediately occurred within less than a week of repairs by the government, which caused protests from many local people, believing that Modi needs to thoroughly investigate the corruption problem. They even suspected that if the bridge was not repaired, it would last longer and such a serious accident would not occur. There are comments on this: "The corruption problem in India cannot be solved at all, because the influence of 'autonomous power' local politicians have a critical role in New Delhi ; this makes Modi almost unable to take ruthless measures to solve it. The ecology of various states has been like this for decades; in other words, if their rectification arouses dissatisfaction, the ruling party will step down; the next Congress party that comes to power will not dare to do this, and things will happen again and again."
