Shallow Water With Rocks Led To Casualties: Official On Gujarat Tragedy
NDTV
Gujarat bridge tragedy: The middle area of the river, whose water is stagnant with almost no flow, is about 20 feet deep
The chief of India's disaster response force has thrown some light on what may have caused the high casualties after a cable broke snapped in Gujarat's Morbi city on Sunday, killing 135.
The water towards both ends of the century-old cable bridge is shallow, about 10 feet or the length of a small car, and the people hit the rocky bottom after falling into the river with great force, killing them, VVN Prasanna Kumar, the Commandant of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), which is part of the search team in the River Machhu, told NDTV today.
The middle area of the river, whose water is stagnant with almost no flow, is about 20 feet deep, Mr Kumar said, adding the navy divers who are searching for bodies effortlessly reached the bottom of the river.
"But the water is muddy and visibility is low," Mr Kumar said. "We have been using an ultramodern remote underwater vehicle fitted with a camera and a sonar device to locate bodies," the NDRF Commandant told NDTV. "The floor of the river is full of rocks. This is why many people were injured and killed," he added.
