On Thursday evening, a 30 meter span of a steel footbridge over the Zuari River at Sanvordem collapsed. The incident occurred while the fire brigade personnel were fishing out the body of Santosh Vandar who allegedly committed suicide. People crowded on the footbridge to watch the rescue, that’s when the bridge gave in and collapsed sending a number of people into the river.
Several of the people managed to swim ashore. Eye witnesses have said the ones who were helping the drowning were also pulled away with the strong current. At present, there are about 10 people missing and feared to have drowned.
The police managed to recover one body from the River on Thursday. The body has been identified as Basavraj Malnavar, a 30 year old truck driver from Sanguem. The rescued were immediately taken to hospitals and it has been reported that they are out of danger.
The Navy and the Coast Guard were conducting rescue missions. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar briefed Prime Minister, Narendra Modi about the tragedy. Parrikar also mentioned the number of casualties would be less than expected. Parrikar briefed the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh as well. The Union Home Minister asked if the national disaster management authority team needed to be sent to Goa. Parrikar reported, “I informed him that it was an accidental tragedy and doesn’t require the team to be deputed here.” He also added, “We cannot predict the number of persons missing.”
Public Works Department minister Ramkrishna Dhavalikar explained that people ignored the warnings to not use the footbridge, “People were warned not to use the bridge. But on Thursday, almost 100 jumped over from the old bridge to this footbridge. They invited the calamity.”
