Maharashtra: Part of footbridge collapses at Chandrapur railway station, several injured

Mumbai, Nov 27: At least 13 people were injured after some portion of a foot over-bridge (FoB) collapsed at a railway station in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra on Sunday.

"Part of pre-cast slab of Foot over bridge at Balharshah, Nagpur division fell down at around 5.10pm today. 4 persons injured in incident & all have been shifted to Civil Hospital after giving first aid. No casualties reported," said Shivaji Sutar, CPRO CR.

The railways announced Ex gratia Rs 1 lakh to grievously injured and Rs 50,000 to those who sustained simple injuries. Injured persons being given best medical treatment by shifting them to other hospitals for early recovery.

#WATCH | Slabs fall off of a foot over bridge at Balharshah railway junction in Maharashtra's Chandrapur; people feared injured pic.twitter.com/5VT8ry3ybe

— ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2022

Thirteen injured persons were rushed to a hospital. One of them has suffered head injuries and his condition is critical, he said.

The Central Railway (CR) said in a press release that a part of the pre-cast slab of the FoB connecting platform number 1 and 2 collapsed, but the other part of the bridge is intact.

Here are other such tragic episodes that have shocked the nation in the past several years.

Morbi bridge collapse: On 30 October 2022 a pedestrian suspension bridge over the Machchhu River in the city of Morbi in Gujarat, India, collapsed, causing the deaths of at least 135 people and injuries to more than 180 others.

The 19th-century bridge had reopened five days earlier, in time for Diwali and the Gujarati New Year, following a lengthy closure for repairs.

Darjeeling bridge collapse (2011): Thirty-two people were killed and over 60 injured when an old wooden footbridge over a spring gave away, under the pressure of crowd, during a Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) meeting at Bijanbari in Darjeeling district on October 22, 2011.The bridge, which had been weakened by the September 18 earthquake, collapsed when a large number of people gathered on it for the meeting.

Arunachal Pradesh footbridge collapse (2011): Just a week after the ill-fated Darjeeling incident, a footbridge over Kameng river in Arunachal Pradesh collapsed on October 29, 2011. It collapsed when 63 people were over the bridge to catch an insect locally known as 'tari'. The bridge was constructed in 1987 and commissioned in 1992. At least 30 people, mostly children, were killed in the incident.

Vivekananda flyover collapse in Kolkata (2016): As many as 26 people were killed and over 60 were injured after an under construction 2.2 km-long Vivekananda flyover collapsed in a congested market area in North Kolkata. The Hyderabad-based company IVRCL, which was constructing the flyover, described the collapse as an "act of God", seeking to portray it as a natural calamity.

Majerhat flyover collapse in Kolkata (2018): In a similar incident on September 4, 2018, three people were killed and 24 were injured after a portion of South Kolkata's over 50-year-old Majerhat bridge caved in following heavy rainfall in the city.

Mumbai footover bridge collapse (2019): Six people were killed and over 30 people were injured when a footover bridge near Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) railway station collapsed on March 14, 2019. The at least three-decade old bridge, connecting the bustling CSMT with the Azad Maidan police station, was audited just six months before the incident. It is maintained by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

with PTI inputs