More than 150 people were on the suspension bridge when it collapsed into the Machhu river in the Morbi district of Gujarat, India.
At least 132 persons were killed when a suspension bridge in India collapsed.
The death toll was confirmed by government officials after dozens of individuals leaped into the river below following the fall.
The footbridge spanning the Machhu river in the town of Morbi in the western Indian state of Gujarat fell on Sunday, just days after reopening after renovations.
More than 150 people were on the suspension bridge at the time, according to authorities.
Local television station Zee News aired footage of individuals clinging to the wires of the collapsed bridge as rescue workers attempted to rescue them.
Multiple individuals, including children, were captured on mobile video captured by bystanders and uploaded on social media attempting to clamber out of the water and back up the twisted wreckage of the collapsed bridge.
The majority of the victims, according to officials, are locals who were visiting the bridge for leisure purposes.
Amit Jhala, a senior administrator at the state-run hospital where victims were transferred, stated that while many people had been rescued, others were still unaccounted for.
The 230-meter-long ancient bridge was constructed in the nineteenth century under British administration. It was shuttered for six months for renovations and reopened to the public last week.
The bridge collapsed because it was unable to support the number of people on it, according to the Press Trust of India.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in Gujarat for a three-day visit, stated that he has instructed the state’s chief minister to immediately mobilize rescue teams.
An official tweet from his office indicated that compensation from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) would be paid to individuals affected by the disaster, with the relatives of the deceased receiving 200,000 Indian rupees and the injured receiving 50,000 Indian rupees.
More than 80 percent of India’s ceramic output is produced in Morbi, one of the largest ceramic manufacturing clusters in the world.
In Gujarat, elections are scheduled to be held before the end of the year, with the present term of Modi’s ruling party set to expire in February 2023.
