Majherhat bridge collapse: Death toll rises to 3; search and rescue operation ends
Kolkata, Sept 6 (IBNS): The death toll in Majherhat bridge collapse incident rose to three as the search and rescue operation ended on Thursday, media reports said.
The third deceased has been identified as Gautam Mondal (42).
Two other people died are Soumen Bag, a resident of Behala, and Pranab De, a metro construction worker.
Soumen Bag (deceased)
Whie Bag died on Tuesday, De's body was recovered a day ago from under the debris.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday visited the site of the accident, which took place a day ago, cutting short her Darjeeling tour.
Blame game over the accident:
Mamata has blamed Metro Railway's construction activities responsible for the accident, though trying to distance herself from drawing a "conclusion".
She said: "Vibrations occurred due to metro construction works. This is factual. It happened in other metro constructions in the city as well."
"Full investigation will take place. We do not want to draw a conclusion and give certificate right now," the Chief Minister added.
However, the Eastern Railway authorities have already denied that the bridge collapsed owing to the impact of their construction work for metro.
Mamata called an "emergency meeting" at 3.30 pm on Wednesday. She said the incident will be discussed "extensively" in the meeting.
Bridge Collapse:
A nearly 200 feet block of a major bridge over a railway track collapsed on Majherhat canal beside railway tracks.
Several private cars and motorcycles, three app based cabs and one minibus fell down with the wreckage.
Local police, state fire and emergency services officials, Disaster Management Group (DMG) personnel, a unit of NDRF and a team from the Indian Army joined the rescue operation after the collapse of the bridge.
A day after a portion of Majherhat railway over bridge (ROB) collapsed, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday granted permission to an advocate to lodge a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) into the disaster while the city police has registered a suo motu FIR against the bridge's maintenance agencies, reports said.
Compensation:
The Chief Minister announced compensation amounts of Rs. 5 lakh to the families of the deceased and Rs, 50,000 for the injured people.
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