Jammu, Apr 14: A nine-year-old girl died and 61 people, including several children, were injured when a foot bridge collapsed during Baisakhi celebrations in Bain village of Beni Sangam area of Chenani in Udhampur district.
The government has ordered a probe led by Deputy Commissioner Udhampur into the collapse.
Udhampur Deputy Commissioner Krittika Jyotsna, who visited the hospital to meet the injured, told reporters that the accident took place late in the afternoon when the people were celebrating Baisakhi.
“Sixty-two people were injured. Out of them, 35 were admitted to district hospital. The critically injured were taken to GMC Hospital in Jammu”, she said.
The other injured have been admitted to Chenani hospital, the officials said.
“One girl has died in the hospital,” Divisional Commissioner Ramesh Kumar said.
According to sources, the deceased has been identified as Anu Kumari.
People in large numbers were on the bridge when it collapsed, the officials said.
The bridge collapsed due to overloading as large number of people were on it at the time of the accident, Kumar said.
He said the probe into the collapse will be led by the Udhampur Deputy Commissioner.
DC Udhampur, Kritika Jyotsna, said that an inquiry will be conducted to ascertain the reasons behind the incident and to fix the responsibility.
“Our first priority is to ensure that all the injured get proper medical treatment,” DC Udhampur told Rising Kashmir, while adding, “An inquiry in to the foot bridge collapse will be thoroughly conducted to ascertain the reasons behind the incident.
SSP Udhampur, Vinod Kumar, said that there was a rush in view of Baisakhi and the foot bridge was overloaded, which might be the possible reason for its collapse.
Sources said the foot bridge, with 25 metre length and 5 metre width was of low height and it didn’t collapsed suddenly, as otherwise the toll could have been much higher.
Meanwhile, soon after the collapse, the teams of district administration and Police, with the help of locals, launched rescue operation. The injured were immediately shifted to Chenani hospital. Some of the injured were then shifted to District Hospital Udhampur. With inputs from PTI
