Map showing location of Morbi in India along with the capital New Delhi.

Morbi bridge collapse

How a footbridge came crashing down in western India

At least 135 people were killed when a pedestrian suspension bridge, built in 1877, gave way in the Indian town of Morbi on Sunday evening.

The bridge, which crosses the Machchhu River, saw a steady crowd build up before it collapsed. It was a colonial-era suspension bridge that had reopened just days earlier after months of renovations.

“The bridge collapsed in front of our eyes. People fell into the river, one on top of each other, and the debris from the bridge fell on them,” said Ajay Kumar, a 32-year-old construction worker who lives in a makeshift home on the riverside. “It sounded like a mountain had broken.”

Sept. 3, 2022

The colonial-era suspension bridge had been built in 1877 was under renovation before it was reopened on Oct. 26.

Oct. 31, 2022

Two days after the incident, eyewitnesses said they saw crowding on the bridge before it collapsed.

Satellite Images by Planet Labs PBC

CCTV footage recorded the moment of the collapse at around 6.30 p.m., capturing a group of young men taking photos while others tried to rock the bridge from side to side, before the cables on the southern side of the bridge gave way.

Muted video showing the bridge falling into the river.

CCTV footage of the bridge collapsing.

In the hours preceding the accident, several hundred people had gathered on and around the 233 metre (255 yard) bridge. Two private security guards were present on the bridge but struggled to control the surge of sightseers as evening fell, four witnesses and a survivor said.

“They were pleading with people to not gather,” said Pankaj Kumar, a construction worker who was on the riverside. “‘Please listen to us, don't shake the bridge, don't crowd, keep moving,’ the guards were saying, but people were not listening,” he said.

At the time the bridge crumpled, there were 200 people on the structure, police estimate.

The bridge was narrow, measuring only 1.25 meters (4 feet 1 inch) in width, barely wide enough to contain the flow of human traffic.

An illustration showing the width of the bridge to scale with an adult.

Morbi’s state-run Civil Hospital was having a normal evening. Around 7 p.m. the bodies started to be brought to the hospital, around 1.5 km from the bridge.

“Initially one or two came, then the numbers swelled. All were brought in dead,” said Suzen Dudhrejia, a 20-year-old intern, who started his shift at around 6 p.m.

Satellite map of Morbi showing the location of the collapsed suspension bridge and Morbi General Hospital around 1.5 km to the west.

Stretched to its limits, the hospital's administration deployed its entire staff of around 100 people, including doctors who were on leave.

Police have so far arrested nine people on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Prior to its collapse, the bridge’s entrance displayed a signboard for the Oreva Group, a company best known for manufacturing clocks and electrical products and which had been awarded a contract earlier this year to maintain and manage the bridge. A municipal official said Oreva had not informed local authorities about reopening the bridge. An Oreva spokesperson did not respond to calls and text messages from Reuters.

Several rescue boats in the river, with more rescuers standing on the river bank.
A man looks at the remaining cables and netting of the broken bridge.

Left: Rescuers conduct search operation after a suspension bridge collapsed on Sunday, in Morbi town in the western state of Gujarat, India, November 1, 2022. REUTERS/Stringer

Right: A security personnel stands near a damaged suspension bridge after it collapsed on Sunday, in Morbi town in the western state of Gujarat, India, November 1, 2022. REUTERS/Stringer

Hundreds of people gathered at the hospital, desperate to find out about their loved ones, and bodies lay on stretchers and on beds inside wards, volunteer helper Bhaskar Wala said.

“People were sharing photographs of their family members with us and we were going in the wards to identify the bodies through the photographs,” he said. “I helped identify eight members of the one family all of whom died.”

Sources

Planet Labs PBC; Maps4News; Morbi District Administration

Edited by

Anand Katakam and Alison Williams