Here's what we know so far
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See expanded and updated story of the Morbi bridge disaster
here.
shows people rocking the bridge as if it were a swing.
UPDATE: Some 400 people had bought tickets to be on the bridge in celebration of Diwali and Chahath Puja (the locally celebrated New Year),
reports Reuters. Oreva, the company that has a 15-year exclusive contract for operation of the bridge, and was selling tickets. Local politician Jayrajsinh Jadeja blamed
Oreva for selling tickets without restrictions and said overcrowding led to the
bridge collapse.
UPDATE: Police have arrested nine people from the Oreva group in
connection with the Morbi bridge collapse. Oreva was contracted to maintain and
operate the bridge. They may be charged with “culpable homicide not amounting to
murder,” said senior police officer Ashok Kumar Yadav, quoted in BBC News. “Of
these nine, two work as managers, while two work as ticket booking clerks [all
employed by Oreva] at the bridge site.” The rest arrested include two people
contracted to repair the structure, as well as security personnel at the bridge.
UPDATE: Story updated with photo from video, reference to other bridge
disasters.
A 145-year old pedestrian suspension bridge over the Machhu River in Morbi in the state of Gujarat, India, collapsed at 6:32 pm on Sunday, October 30. Anywhere from 150 to 500 peoples may have been on the bridge at the time of collapse, depending on the source. Sixty bodies have been recovered.
Morbi is on the Western coast of India, 1100 km southwest of Delhi, with a population of 210,000 (2011 census). It is best known for its production of ceramic goods, such as tiles and bathroom products. The area accounts for 80% of the ceramic products produced in the country, according to Sky News. The industry employs many migrant workers and, no doubt, several were on the bridge when it collapsed. Witnesses report many women and children fell into the river.
The 230 m (755 ft) long bridge, known locally as the “Jhoolta Pul,” was built in 1877, during the Victorian era of British occupation. Much of the infrastructure built by the British has been poorly maintained by an independent India. Also, reports of corruption and bribes swirl around infrastructure building and maintenance contracts. Incidents of massive (by Western standards) deaths are relatively frequent.
In 2019, a footbridge in Mumbai’s (previously Bombay) Chhatrapati Shivaji
Railway Terminus building collapsed, killing six people. In 2011, more than 30
died when a bridge near Darjeeling collapsed.
The bridge has been closed for renovation for six months but was reopened to the public last week, according to Reuters.
The company entrusted to do the renovations was Oreva, a manufacturer once the
“world’s largest maker of wall clocks” before switching to lighting products and
electric bikes, which is raising many questions about their qualifications for
bridge building, maintenance or safety.
There is a question of the bridge being reopened without a “fitness certificate.” A private company in charge of the bridge, according to the New York Times.
The collapse happened during a celebration of Gujarati New Year and while
much of the rest of the country celebrates Diwali, the festival of lights. Such
celebrations bring crowds into the streets — and Morbi, onto the bridge. Videos
posted on social media show people packed onto the bridge, most of them still,
with no intention of crossing from one side of the river to the other. Some men are shown moving in rhythm, as if trying to make the bridge swing and others seem to be pulling on the cables. No music is heard on the video so rhythmic dancing, the culprit in the collapse of a skywalks in the Kansas City Hyatt Regency in 1981, can be ruled out.
Video shows the hangers (vertical cables) on one side of the bridge going slack all at once, indicating the failure of a main cable (one of the two continuous cables that arches between the bridges anchorage and the towers).
Surprising as it may seem, bridges have the highest load per square foot when they are packed with people. If the pedestrians are walking, there is a distance between them, but if they stop walking, people will get packed together, increasing the load per square foot to the maximum. The San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge strained and flattened during its 50-year celebration when it was briefly closed for traffic and pedestrians packed its 1.7 mile length. Of course, a pedestrian bridge with no vehicular traffic whatsoever, should be expected to withstand a deck packed with people.
