MORBI : More than 100 deaths have been reported till early morning in Morbi hanging bridge collapse incident case. Around 177 people have been rescued after the disaster. Around 19 people are under treatment, as per Gujarat Information Department.
On the other hand, teams including Army, Navy, Air Force, NDRF, and Fire Brigade conducted a search operation throughout the night to find the Garkaw victims in Macchu river after the bridge collapsed, as per officials.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Bhupendrabhai Patel, Minister of State for Home Affairs Harshbhai Sanghvi, Minister Brijeshbhai Merja, and Minister of State Shri Arvindbhai Raiyani reached the incident spot at midnight and personally observed the rescue operation and gave directions.
According to the details from the district administration, after the suspension bridge mishap, the system was immediately activated and rescue operations started with the help of local people.
Besides this, teams from other places also started reaching the spot. On the other hand, around 40 doctors from various Health Centres, Rajkot PDU Hospital and Surendranagar Civil Hospital started emergency treatment at Morbi Civil Hospital.
After the collapse of the bridge, the Rajkot Municipal Corporation boat and rescue materials including life jackets reached Morbi and started the rescue operation. 25 to 108 emergency ambulances from Rajkot, Jamnagar, Junagadh Metropolitan Municipality and Morbi Municipality were running throughout the night to bring the injured to the hospital immediately. Several private ambulances were also involved in the rescue operation. Army team from Surendranagar joined with its three ambulances and equipment, informed the officials.
Apart from this, three teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) from Vadodara and two teams from Gandhinagar together with 110 members of five teams reached the spot by air and land and speeded up the rescue work. While two platoons of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) from Jamnagar, and 3 platoons each from Gondal and Vadodara, a total of 149 members also reached the spot, informed defence officials.
A team of Jamnagar Garuda Commando and two companies from Surandnagar and Bhuj were also on foot for this rescue operation. Seven teams of the Rajkot Fire Brigade reached 10 boats. 50 divers from 2 teams of nine armies from Jamnagar and Porbandar joined the operation to find the missing persons in the Machu river, as per officials.
The search operation was conducted throughout the night by the teams involved in the rescue work and the officers who were on foot.
Meanwhile, Commissioner of Municipalities Rajkumar Beniwal, Morbi District Collector G.T. Pandya, Rajkot District Collector Arun Mahesh Babu, Regional Commissioner of Rajkot District Municipalities Dhimant Vyas, Morbi District Development Officer Parag Bhagdev, Morbi District Police Chief Rahul Tripathi along with the convoy of officials and employees remained on foot all night. Moreover, the local people were also helping in the functioning of the system. (ANI)