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| 24 feared dead in Uri bridge collapse | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
SRINAGAR, Nov 16: More than two dozen persons, most of them labourers, are feared to have died after they were drowned in river Jhelum following the collapse of an under- construction bridge in border town of Uri in North Kashmir's Baramulla district early this morning.
Reports said that bodies of four persons including a non-local labourer were retrieved up-to 1330 hours. Parampila Bridge— connecting Karamteela and Bardi villages— caved in the middle and plunged into the fast flowing river Jhelum.
Meanwhile, the Governor, NN Vohra has ordered a Magisterial enquiry into the incident. The inquiry will be conducted by the District Magistrate, Baramulla within a period of one week.
He said that at the time of bridge -collapse, several labourers were working on it while few commuters were crossing to reach their respective places of work.
He added that twenty persons were still missing as authorities and locals launched a massive rescue operation to trace the missing.
Bodies of two persons which were retrieved included that of Ghulam Qadir Mugal, 50, son of Ghulam Muhammad Mugal of Machikarand, Iqbal Hussein son of Rehmat Ullah, Ishtiaq Hussein Shah, son of Sabir Hussein, both residents of Besgerandani and unidentified non-local labourer.
Some of the missing persons have been identified as Mushtaq Ahmad Khan (shopkeeper) son of Naseeb Ahmad Khan, Mohammad Din son of Ghulam-udin. Mohammad Lateef Gujjar son of Ali Mohammad Raveel Ahmad Mughal son of Mohammad Amin and Fayaz Ahmad Mughal son Nazir Ahmad.
Members from administration have reached the spot to ascertain the cause of the mishap which apparently seems to be the usage of substandard material in the construction of the bridge.
"Police has launched large scale rescue operation," Senior Superintendent of Police Anand Jain said.
The bridge was in the final stage of its construction; in fact labourers were giving finishing touches to it when it collapsed. He said that more than half of the bridge still remains erect.
On receiving information about the mishap during his tour to the various parts of the Srinagar city, the Governor telephonically directed the District Development Commissioner, Baramulla to organize relief measures. Rescue operations had been undertaken by the authorities immediately after the accident occurred.
The Governor asked the DDC to mobilize all resources for providing specialized treatment to the injured. He also discussed this incident with the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Mr Masud Samoon, and asked him to overview the rescue and relief operations.
Vohra was informed that the National Hydro Construction Corporation has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakhs each to the next of the kin of those killed in the accident and Rs 50,000 in respect of each of the injured, apart from meeting the expenditure on their treatment. |
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