Nine more bodies recovered, bridge collapse toll rises to 15

Itanagar, Nov 7: With nine more bodies recovered, the death toll in the October 29 bridge collapse at Seppa in East Kameng district rose to 15, official sources said today (Nov 7).

The deputy commissioner of East Kameng Tope Bam in a report said nine more bodies were recovered yesterday and one person Pazo Sonam (45) is still missing.

After the bridge collapsed the Army, ITBP, CRPF and state police had launched massive search operation and rescued 47 people with 10 in serious conditions.

The bridge collapsed on October 29 evening when 63 people, mostly children, were crossing the bridge to catch an insect locally known as 'tari'.

The weak bridge was constructed way back in 1987 and commissioned in 1992. He informed that a committee has been constituted to disburse the ex-gratia by identifying the right claimants.

"A medical board headed by district hospital"s medical superintendent has been constituted to physically verify those sustained major and minor injuries for easy disbursement of the ex-gratia amount," Bam said in the report.

The state government had already released an amount of 19 lakh as ex-gratia to the victims, while Congress President Sonia Gandhi also paid six lakh and Lok Sabha member from Arunachal Takam Sanjoy announced ex-gratia payment on one lakh to the dead, 50,000 to those who received serious injury and 25,000 to those with minor injuries.

PTI