Truck driver Ganpatsinh Rajput was going about his day as usual on Wednesday when his vehicle fell into the Mahisagar river after a section of the Mujpur-Gambhira bridge collapsed in Vadodara district. The 40-year-old suffered serious injuries in his limbs but when he noticed a stranger struggling in the water, Rajput swam in the direction of the man and brought him to safety.
Friday brought heartbreaking news to Rajput, who is still nursing his injuries at the hospital. The man that he saved, Narendra Parmar, had succumbed to his injuries.
With Parmar’s demise and the discovery of another body at the accident site, the death toll in the incident rose to 20 on Friday even as rescue continued under the collapsed bridge for the third consecutive day.
Rescue teams retrieved more vehicles from the Mahisagar river even as the collapsed segment of the bridge remains submerged in water and one body – feared trapped under the girder – is yet to be recovered.
Speaking from his bed at SSG Hospital in Vadodara, Rajput, who was travelling from Dahej in Surat to Kandla to transport Sulphuric Acid in a tanker, said, “The incident was terrifying. For the first 15 minutes after falling into the water, I remained numb but when I regained alertness, I realised that my arm and leg had been injured and that I was bleeding. I saw another man (Parmar) struggling in the water. Since, I hail from a village that is close to a river in Rajasthan, I am an adept swimmer. I brought him over to the platform under one of the pillars… It broke my heart to learn that he passed away.”
A resident of Dahevan in Borsad in Anand district, Parmar, 45, died of head injuries.
Officials of the district administration, who have been facing the wrath of local residents alleging “slow rescue operations”, said that a challenge faced by the teams was access to the spot where the bridge had collapsed.
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A senior official of the district administration said, “The spot of the accident is about 50-60 meters from the riverbank, which made it extremely difficult for heavy machinery to be deployed close to the spot on the ground to pull out the vehicles… Several bodies were trapped inside and under the vehicles and therefore, it took over 24 hours to retrieve a majority of the deceased persons.”
The official further said, “The segment girder is yet to be removed and we fear that at least two (one of these were removed later in the evening) bodies are trapped under it.”
On cranes being deployed on the bridge, the official said, “Although it could be a risky calculation, it is the closest that one can get and try to lift the vehicles to push them closer to the bank… We calculated the weight of the crane and decided to deploy it on the bridge, where the slab is sturdy. That finally helped move the trucks.”
On Friday, Gujarat cabinet minister Rushikesh Patel visited the site of the collapsed bridge and also met the injured persons at SSG hospital, accompanied by District Collector Anil Dhameliya and Padra MLA Chaitanyasinh Zala.
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At the hospital, Rajput lamented that his injuries “came in the way” of rescuing more persons. “I saw other helpless survivors crying for help… But I was injured. Had I not suffered injuries, I would have rescued at least seven or eight more people, including those two little children, who drowned in the car nearby. I will always have this regret…”