Death toll in Morbi bridge collapse reaches 141, search operation continues

The death toll due to the collapse of a suspension bridge in Gujarat's Morbi has increased to 141 as of Monday morning, a top police official confirmed.

The toll was confirmed to the media by Rajkot Range Inspector General of Police Ashok Yadav.

However, the toll according to the Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi is 132, while two persons remain unaccounted for.

He also said that when the two missing persons are located, the search and rescue operations will be over.

As of Monday morning, the Morbi government hospital has released a list of 99 deceased, but has not mentioned the age of the victims.

The tragedy took place on Sunday evening when about 400 people were on the suspension bridge on the Machhu river.

A criminal complaint against the cable bridge contractor and manager has been lodged while the police have started a probe into the incident.

Nearly 200 jawans from the Army, Navy, NDRF, SDRF, local fire brigade teams, and local divers and swimmers have joined the search operation.

Rajkot Collector Arun Mahesh Babu is also camping at Morbi and helping local authorities in search and rescue operations.

He told the media that to reduce water level at the incident site, just a few minutes ago through a limited blast a check dam was demolished. Once the water recedes it will help the search team to search bodies. He estimates that the search operation is likely to continue for the next 24 hours.