At least five people have died and over 30 people have been injured after a foot overbridge near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) railway station in Mumbai collapsed during peak office hours on Thursday, 14 March.
The bridge connected the bustling Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus railway station with the Azad Maidan Police Station. The bridge is locally known as Kasab bridge – named after the 26/11 Mumbai attack terrorist, Ajmal Kasab who passed through it during the terror attacks.
The deceased have been identified Apoorva Prabhu (35), Ranjana Tambe (40) and Zahid Shiraj Khan (32), Sarika Kulkarni (35) and Tapendra Singh (35). Officials also said that the injured have been taken to nearby hospitals.
The incident took place around 7:30 pm.
(Catch all the live updates on the bridge collapse here)
‘Thoughts With Bereaved Families’: PM Modi
Hours after the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the incident and extended prayers to the bereaved families.
“Deeply anguished by the loss of lives due to the foot overbridge accident in Mumbai. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. Wishing that the injured recover at the earliest. The Maharashtra Government is providing all possible assistance to those affected,” PM Modi said.
Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis also expressed his condolences and said that he has instructed BMC Commissioner and Mumbai Police to ensure speedy relief.
Meanwhile, Mumbai Police in a tweet advised people to take alternate routes and said, “Foot overbridge connecting CST platform 1 north end with B T Lane near Times of India building has collapsed... Traffic affected. Commuters to use alternate routes.”
The tweet added that senior officials were present at the spot.
‘Saw People Falling on Taxi’: Eyewitness Recounts Horrific Incident
Recounting the horrific incident, an eyewitness told ABP News that roughly 100 people were there on the bridge when it collapsed.
“There were around 100 people on the bridge when the incident took place. Every day we take the bridge to commute and today, this happened. What we can recall, there were people under the bridge as well when a part of it collapsed,” an eyewitness told ABP News.
Another eyewitness, Rajesh Rawalkar told news agency ANI that he saw people falling on a taxi after the collapse of the bridge.
“I saw people fall from the top, around 20 people were injured. It happened around 7:30 pm and there was a lot of traffic. Some people fell on top of a taxi, there was a lot of debris. We removed it and found at least 10 people who we put in an ambulance. I think five must have died on impact, but let’s see.”Rajesh Rawalkar, Eyewitness to ANI
‘Nothing Changes’: People React to Bridge Collapse
Reactions poured in on social media moments after the collapse. While some demanded accountability from the concerned authorities, others condoled the death of the victims.
Present at the spot, BJP MLA Raj Purohit condemned the incident and said “it should have happened.”
“Action should be taken against the engineer who gave certificate to this bridge in auditing, he should be arrested. He should be punished.”
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