November 23, 2024 08:57 (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
'Third World War has begun:' Ex-Ukraine military commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny | UK-India Free Trade Agreement negotiations to resume in early 2024 | UK can arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits country based on ICC warrant | Centre to send over 10,000 additional soldiers to violence-hit Manipur amid fresh violence | Chhattisgarh: 10 Maoists killed during encounter with security forces in Sukma
At least 1 killed, 19 hurt in Kolkata bridge collapse

At least 1 killed, 19 hurt in Kolkata bridge collapse

| @indiablooms | 04 Sep 2018, 03:34 pm

Kolkata, Sep 4 (IBNS): At least one person was killed and 19 others were injured as a portion of a 40-year-old bridge collapsed in Kolkata's Majherhat area on Tuesday evening, officials said.

At around 4:40 pm, a nearly 200 feet block of Majerhat bridge over the rail track collapsed on Majherhat canal.

Several private cars and motorcycles, three app based cabs and one minibus were trapped in the wreckage and several people were hurt in the mishap.

Local police, state fire and emergency services officials, Disaster Management Group (DMG) personnel, an unit of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and a team from the Indian Army joined the rescue operation.

After being rescued, injured persons were rushed to CMRI and SSKM hospitals nearby.

The youth, who was injured in Majherhat bridge collapse and later died in SSKM hospital, has been identified as Soumen Bag.

He was a resident of Behala Silpara area.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is currently in Darjeeling, said that she was monitoring the rescue operation continuously.

"I heard that one person died in the bridge collapse while nine and ten injured are undergoing treatment at CMRI and SSKM hospitals respectively," Mamata Banerjee said.

"I am going back to Kolkata tomorrow and a high level probe, under the leadership of Chief Secretary, has been ordered into the reason behind the accident," Banerjee added.

Meanwhile, a source in the state government claimed that at least five persons were killed in the accident.

Traffic at the area and rail service in Sealdah-Budge Budge section were disrupted since the bridge fell down.

The bridge is considered as one of the busiest in the city and connects areas like Behala and Thakurpurkur with the rest of Kolkata.
 
Prime Minister expresses sadness:
 
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday expressed his sadness over the tragedy and called the incident as 'unfortunate'. "The collapse of a part of a bridge in Kolkata is deeply unfortunate. My thoughts are with the families of the victims. I pray that those who are injured recover at the earliest," Modi tweeted.
 
 
Politicians react on social media:
 
Union Minister Babul Supriyo said: "Extremely disturbing news of the collapsed #MajherhatBridge in #Kolkata. Praying for the victims of the tragedy and speedy recovery of the injured." 
 
Girish Park Bridge collapse horror returns to shock Kolkata:

On Mar 31, 2017, the under- construction Vivekananda Flyover collapsed in Kolkata's Girish Park area, killing at least 26 people and leaving many injured. 

 
(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha, Images & Videos by Subhodeep Sardar)

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.