Morbi Bridge Collapse Tragedy Reaches Supreme Court, 9 Arrested So Far: Top Points

Technical and maintenance flaws have come to the fore after the collapse of the suspension bridge at Gujarat's Morbi claimed over 130 lives. Here's what we know so far.

Technical Flaws Responsible For Morbi Bridge Collapse.

Source : PTI

New Delhi: Technical and structural flaws and some maintenance issues were prima facie responsible for the tragedy in Morbi town of the Saurashtra region when the British-era suspension bridge came crashing down in which 135 people were killed, the police informed on Monday. Nine people were arrested on Monday.

A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking direction to immediately appoint a judicial commission under the supervision of a retired top court judge to initiate a probe into the incident.

Here Are The Top Points: 

• The case has reached Supreme Court with lawyers filing a petition. 

A plea filed in Supreme Court seeking direction to immediately appoint a judicial commission under the supervision of a retired top court judge to initiate a probe on the #MorbiBridgeCollapse pic.twitter.com/7UiWZdmCGu

— ANI (@ANI) November 1, 2022

• As many as 135 people, including 40 women and 34 children, have been killed in the incident.
• Technical and structural flaws and some maintenance issues were prima facie responsible for the tragedy. 
• The police on Monday, arrested nine people, including four employees of the Oreva group that was managing the Morbi suspension bridge, for culpable homicide, a day after the structure collapsed into the Machchhu river. 
• The CCTV footage has revealed that people standing on the narrow bridge fell into the river after one of the two main suspension cables suddenly snapped.’
• The eyewitnesses' accounts painted a heart-wrenching picture of the tragedy. 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. A local woman named Hasina Bhen choked up as she narrated the dreadful incident.
• The Gujarat government declared statewide mourning on November 2 to pay homage to the Morbi bridge collapse victims.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday night chaired a meeting. He was briefed on the relief and rescue operations at the accident site. He asked authorities to ensure that those affected by the disaster get all possible assistance.
• A day after 134 persons died in a bridge collapse in Morbi, the Ahmedabad civic body on Monday decided to restrict the number of persons on the pedestrian-only Atal Bridge on the Sabarmati River in the city to 3,000 per hour
• The Oreva group had bagged the contract to maintain and operate the British-era bridge that collapsed on Sunday evening, four days after it was reopened post-renovation.
• Police have registered an FIR (first information report) on charges of culpable homicide against agencies given the task of maintenance and operation of the bridge. The case was registered in Morbi under Indian Penal Code Sections 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide).
• The FIR stated the bridge was not in use for nearly eight months as the local administration had roped in a "private agency" for its maintenance.