AHMEDABAD: Forty-seven children under the age of 16 have officially been confirmed to be among the nearly 141 dead in the Morbi bridge collapse which occurred in Gujarat on Sunday night.
They include 31 boys and 16 girls. The youngest victim is a two-year-old, Duruku Zhala.
Sources at the local hospital said the dead also include 58 men and 27 women.
Dramatic visuals from an amateur video of the holiday crowd on the bridge as its suspension wires gave way had brought the horror to the nation's drawing rooms.
There were reports of a few youths intentionally shaking the bridge just to get an extra kick from their perch 60 feet above the river. Complaints to the staff to discipline them were not acted upon.
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The police had on Monday arrested nine persons, tasked with managing the century-old suspension bridge, for dereliction of duty after booking a case against them.
"Nine persons have been arrested so far --- two managers and two ticket booking clerks, two contractors and three guards of the Oreva group that was managing the bridge," Rajkot Range Inspector General Ashok Yadav said. He said technical and structural flaws and some maintenance issues were prima facie responsible for the tragedy.
Oreva, tasked with the bridge's management and maintenance, is said to have spent Rs 2 crore on the renovation and was so keen to monetise it that it allegedly opened the bridge on October 26 to mark the Gujarati New Year without a fitness certificate.
The Oreva group specialises in CFL bulbs, wall clocks and e-bikes. The company's contract with the Morbi municipality specified that the cost of the ticket would be Rs 15 per adult and Rs 10 per child below 12 during the 2022-23 and would be increased by Rs 2 each year for the next six years. Yet, tickets sold on the tragic Sunday evening were already up by Rs 2.
There was also the accusation that '650 people were allowed on a bridge that could support only 150-200 people'.
Revenue Minister Rajendra Trivedi on Tuesday said that two persons remain missing, and that search operations will continue till all people are accounted for.
Tuesday marked the third day of the rescue operations.
Two NDRF and two SDRF teams along with six platoons of the Army alongside a team with 18 boats from the Navy, SRPF, Air Force, and the Fire departments are involved in the rescue ops.
NDRF commandant VVN Prasanna Kumar said, "It is suspected that some bodies may be there on the floor of the river. So, we are seeking the help of our deep divers."
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The district collector said that a round-the-clock control room has been established with a helpline for those seeking information.
So far, 224 people have been rescued, he added.
Fifteen of these persons are under treatment in different hospitals of Morbi and two persons are being treated at the Rajkot hospital.
73 people have been discharged.
The state government has decided to observe state-wide mourning on November 2.
This is how the nearly 150-year-old suspension bridge over the Machchhu River in Gujarat’s Morbi collapsed on Sunday, killing 141 people.