GUWAHATI: Twenty-three people are believed to be dead in the under-construction railway bridge collapse in Mizoram's Aizawl district, though 22 bodies have been recovered so far, officials said on Thursday.
The deceased were identified as Naba Chowdhury, Mojammel Haque, Narim Rahman, Ranjit Sarkar, Kashim SK, Samrul Haque, Jhallu Sarkar, Sakirul SL, Masrekul Haque, Saidur Rahman, Rahim SK, Suman Sarkar, Sariful SK, Insarul Haque, Jayanta Sarkar, Md Jhahidul Sheikh, Manirul Nadap, Sebul Mia, Asim Ali, Nurul Haque and Sahin Akhtar. They all hailed from West Bengal’s Malda district.
The injured were Nazim Hussain, Kisno Das and Subha Sardar, all from Kolkata. Sardar, an engineer, fractured his hand and was admitted to the Civil Hospital, Aizawl. His condition was stable. Hussain and Das were discharged from a hospital after first aid.
The persons reported missing were Mojaffar Ali and Senaul, both from Malda.
The incident occurred at Sairang, 21 km from the state capital Aizawl, around 9:30 a.m. The Bairabi-Sairang rail head is part of the capital connectivity project.
Sources from the Railways said a girder (a steel structure on which track is laid) had collapsed while it was being installed. The girder was designed by the STUP consultant and proof-checked by the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati.
The bridge did not suffer any damage and the pillars – the tallest being 95 metres – are intact, the sources added.
The Railways constituted a high-level committee to probe the incident and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh for each of those killed, Rs 2 lakh for those who sustained grievous injuries and Rs 50,000 for those who sustained minor injuries.
(With inputs from PTI)