Mohan Kundariya, the BJP MP from Gujarat’s Rajkot, told the Press Trust of India that 12 of his family members were among those killed in the tragic bridge collapse on Sunday in Gujarat’s Morbi district that took the lives of at least 133 people.
He said that the deceased family members hailed from Gujarat’s Tankara Taluka and were close relatives of his older brother.
Also read: 9 arrested after Morbi bridge collapse leaves at least 134 dead
Reports say that when the incident took place, there were close to 400 o 500 people on the 143-year-old suspension bridge. The load was way over its capacity of 150, they added.
“Four daughters of the brother-in-law of my elder brother, the husbands of three of them and five children were killed in the accident,” Mohan Kundariya told PTI in an interview.
“As it was Sunday, they had gone to the picnic spot where the tragedy occurred. I reached here half-hour after the incident took place and have been at the spot since yesterday, helping in the rescue work,” he added.
“As it was Sunday, they had gone to the picnic spot where the tragedy occurred. I reached here half-an-hour after the incident took place and have been at the spot since yesterday, helping in the rescue work.”
“So many people have been killed. We will take strict action against those responsible for the incident,” he said.
Earlier it was reported that the Gujarat state government formed a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the incident. It consists of IAS officers, engineers, and the IG of CID in Gujarat. The official account of why the bridge collapsed will be known when the SIT submits its probe report.
NDTV reported that the bridge was being renovated for the last six months by a trust called Oreva. The report claimed that the bridge was opened without any clearance from the authorities.