6 people fall into river as bridge slab collapses during demolition in Gujarat's Junagadh; no injuries reported
The latest incident occurred in Mangrol taluka. Video footage accessed by The Indian Express shows the people who fell into the river, including some in the traditional 'kediyu' attire of the Maldhari community, attempting to climb back by clambering on the collapsed slab. A bulldozer can also be seen perched on the slab, which is bent 45 degrees into the shallow river and surrounded by debris.
'The bridge has been demolished as part of a precaution. Our teams were surveying all bridges and highways. When they inspected this bridge, they found it needed to be demolished, and this particular way was closed, and an alternate route was given,' Anil Ranavasiya, Junagadh Collector, told The Indian Express.
'There are three slab-drain type structures. When the machine was demolishing one part, it slid down,' he added. Asked if locals had fallen into the river along with workers, the collector said he was en route to the site and would see the situation before commenting on the matter.
However, a hurried government statement on Tuesday morning said, 'In the incident of the dilapidated bridge between Ajak-Antroli villages near Mangrol in Junagadh district, the truth has come out that in fact this bridge has not broken but has been demolished. On the instructions of CM Bhupendrabhai Patel, the inspection of dilapidated bridges and the repair of roads are going on in full swing across the state, as part of which some bridges in Junagadh district have also been closed after the inspection. The repair work has now been started by the relevant departments on these bridges.'
The statement added, 'Regarding the incident of the bridge slab breaking near Mangrol, Junagadh District Road and Building Department Executive Engineer Abhishek Gohil said that as part of this work, the bridge between Antroli near Mangrol was found to be dilapidated after the inspection of the officials of the Road Building Department Panchayat. Its slab was found to be dilapidated, and the work of removing it had begun. While this work was going on, a large part of the bridge slab fell down. It is clarified that no one was injured or killed in this incident.'
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