Eyewitnesses’ accounts painted a heart-wrenching picture of the tragedy of the collapse of the suspension bridge in Gujarat’s Morbi city on Sunday, which claimed over 132 lives including that of women and children.
Locals recount how they carried the injured, some of them lifeless bodies of children in their arms, clutching onto a vague hope that they will somehow make it.
A tea seller in the vicinity who watched with horror the recently renovated 140-year-old suspension bridge collapse said that people were hanging on to the Julto Pul, as the bridge is commonly known, went down.
“Everything happened within seconds. I saw people hanging on to the bridge and later falling into the water as their grip loosened and they slipped into the water. It was really heart-wrenching. A 7-month pregnant woman also died in the bridge collapse. It shattered me to the core,” he said.
The man who sells tea every Sunday near the bridge broke down repeatedly as he recounted the horror.
“There were just people dying everywhere. I tried helping as much as I can. Took people to the hospital,” said the tea vendor.
“I have never seen anything like this. There was this small kid. We tried rescuing her. She spat out a lot of water and we were really happy that she would survive, however she soon took her last breath in front of me as we rushed her to the hospital. I was shaken,” he added as tears filled his eyes.
A local woman named Hasina Bhen choked up as she narrated the dreadful incident.”I never realized when the morning dawned. My family and I was involved in rushing people to the hospital for the whole night. I have given both my vehicles to people to ferry the injured to hospitals. I have two sons and a daughter and both my sons have been just helping out people and are continuing even now.