Death toll in India's Gujarat bridge collapse rises to 20
Baku, July 12, AZERTAC
The death toll from a bridge collapse in the western Indian state of Gujarat rose to 20 on Friday, officials said, according to Xinhua.
A portion of the bridge over the Mahisagar river collapsed on Wednesday in Vadodara district, about 151 km southeast of Gandhinagar, the capital city of Gujarat.
Following its collapse, five to seven vehicles plying on it plunged into the river.
"The search operation has been going on since Wednesday, and today two more bodies were recovered during the extraction of a truck from the riverbed, taking the death toll to 20 in the accident so far," an official said.
The search operation at the spot was underway, as two people were still missing.
The cause of the bridge collapse was unknown.
Meanwhile, the local government has suspended four engineers from the Public Works Department in connection with the matter.
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has ordered an inquiry into the accident, promising a detailed report within 30 days.
The bridge was built in 1985. It connects Anand and Vadodara districts. Heavy lorries seeking to avoid tolls on the six-lane Mumbai-Ahmedabad national highway had been increasingly using this crossover.
Deadly accidents due to failing infrastructure are common in India.
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