The cables supporting the suspension bridge gave way, sending about 500 people, including women and children, tumbling into the river below. On the 150-year-old bridge, which is 300 kilometres from Ahmedabad, many people were observing Chhath puja ceremonies.
The Machchhu River Bridge had been closed for maintenance for seven months. The day after the Gujarati New Year, on October 26, it was reopened to the public. The bridge collapsed, causing people to fall on top of one another. While some were spotted swimming to safety, videos showed numerous people helplessly clinging to the bridge's wreckage.
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Gujarat government has initiated an investigation into the bridge collage. A five-person special investigation committee has been established to investigate the incident., considering the British era bridge broke days after reopening.
Rahul Tripathi, Morbi SP has confirmed detention of a couple of people from the management for questioning and Gujarat Police has filed FIR against bridge maintenance agency for 'culpable homicide'
"It is a sad incident. Many people have died. It was an old bridge which was repaired recently. Govt should look into it," Bihar CM Nitish Kumar stated.
Killing of over hundred people in bridge collapse have sparked outrage with many seeking CM's resignation and probe into how was the bridge open for public without due diligence and crowding allowed with no security mechanism in place.
However, amid calls for accountability a video allegedly showing minutes before the accident has gone viral, apparently showing people trying to damage the bridge. The same is being used to create a narrative that the accident was a sabotage. They allege, perpetrators are to be blamed for creating “resonance", which is “basic physics that if concerted vibration is applied at multiple points on any bridge such as wavelength of those vibrations matches wavelength of bridge, the force magnifies (sic)". His views have been
There are others who questioned the reliability of the video, not because it was fake, but due to the fact that it was an old one. “Talking of physics is fine, but needs little common sense that this video is about 4 years old (sic)," wrote one user.
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In view of the Gujarat Elections in December, some users accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of planning the conspiracy. Some shared screenshots of certain pro-AAP tweets that claimed that there would be a “dhamaka" in Gujarat on October 30. PM Modi is presently on a Gujarat visit. Despite being pained by the incident, Modi said he would continue his election campaign to follow the “path of duty".
