A section of cover on a 40 -year bridge in Gujarat, India immersed itself on a river along with vehicles on July 9. The number of deaths so far is 13.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered condolences to the families of the victims and the injured. He announced in a publication in X that the next relative of each person who died would receive 50,000 rupees.
“May the injured recover soon,” he wrote.
The Gambhira bridge crosses the Mahisagar river in the Vadodara district of Gujarat. Indian media reported that rescue operations continued.
It New Indian Express He reported that the district’s executive engineer said that the inspection report of the concrete structure, built in 1985, “Did not indicate any significant structural damage. The bridge was not considered unsafe. The exact cause of the collapse will only be known after the submission of the detailed report. “”
But the same news source also said that there was an audio recording of a conversation in which a road officer and bridges stated that he believed that the Gambhira bridge was not expected to be long. If this meant that he had reached his useful life without mass maintenance or he was in imminent danger of collapse.
The Indian government offered the next relative of those who died compensation. Photo: AP
