Nine people were arrested after a bridge collapsed in the state of Gujarat, in the state of India, which killed 134 people on Sunday (30), police said.
The suspects are all associated with Oreva, the Gujarat-based electrical equipment maker that carried out maintenance on the 230-meter-long bridge in the city of Morbi, police officer Ashok Kumar Yadav told reporters on Monday.
The bridge had reopened last week after repairs.
Among the nine arrested are two managers, two clerks, two businessmen and three security guards, according to Yadav.
The suspects are being investigated for manslaughter that does not amount to murder, Yadav added that a special investigative team is looking into the incident.
At least 134 people, including 30 children, died when the bridge collapsed on Sunday night at around 6:30 pm local time, as residents of the riverside town were joining Dii celebrations.
An estimated 200 people were on the bridge at the time, according to Gujarat Interior Minister Harsh Sanghavi.
Built over a century ago, the bridge is 1.25 meters wide and soars over the Machchhu River to form a gateway to Morbi, a city that still bears the architectural legacy of British rule.
Photos of the scene on Monday showed people gathering on the riverbank beside the shattered metal walkway.
Search efforts involving hundreds of state and national disaster relief personnel and Indian military personnel are due to resume on Tuesday, district official Vishal Kanjaria told CNN .
By Monday night, a total of 170 people had been rescued, according to Vishal Kanjaria, an administrative official for the Morbi district. Some remain in hospital and others have returned home, although the exact details of their condition are not yet known.
Speaking at a news conference in the early hours of Monday, Sanghavi did not say how many people were missing, but social media video showed dozens in the water after the bridge collapsed. TV footage showed people holding onto cables and bridge debris as emergency workers tried to reach them, Reuters reported.
Some climbed the destroyed structure to reach the banks of the river, while others swam to shore.
Victims’ families will receive compensation from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, according to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Source: CNN Brasil
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