India | Pedestrian bridge collapse at Mumbai train station injures 5

At least five people were injured yesterday when part of a pedestrian bridge at a Mumbai train station collapsed during morning rush hour amid heavy rains, officials said, as authorities struggled to restore the busy station.

The concrete slab fell onto empty train tracks, damaging part of the platform roof and high-tension electric wires. Rescuers were cutting through the concrete and iron of the fallen slab, while engineers were working to restore power and train services.

The continuing rains were hampering rescue and relief operations at the Andheri station in Mumbai, India’s financial capital. The overpass connects the eastern and western portions of the Andheri railways station, and the collapse stranded passengers during the morning rush.

Railroad spokesman Ravinder Bhakar said no trains were passing in the area at the time of the collapse around 7:30 a.m. He said the incessant rains seemed to have caused cracks in the bridge, resulting in the collapse. Aaj Tak television news channel said the bridge was more than 50 years old.

Police official Yaibhav Nigade said at least five people who were walking on the bridge were injured and hospitalized. He said all the people trapped in the debris had been rescued, but that rescue teams using sniffer dogs were still searching the debris. Nigade did not say how many people had been trapped.

India Today TV quoted an eyewitness saying he heard someone calling out to be saved. Another witness said some people were trapped under the concrete debris.

India’s railway minister, Piyush Goyal, ordered an investigation. In a tweet, Goyal “directed officials to speed up repair work and rapidly restore traffic in close coordination with other departments.”

Many streets and roads were waterlogged in Mumbai as monsoon rains continued lashing the city. Weather officials forecast heavy rains in the coming days.

Every day, millions of commuters use the sprawling train network in Mumbai and its suburbs.

Last year, at least 22 people died and 32 others suffered injuries in a stampede triggered by a rumor that a pedestrian overpass had collapsed after concrete chunks fell at another railway station. AP