Mumbai Bridge Collapse: Foot Overbridge That Collapsed Near Mumbai’s CST Was Under Repair: Eyewitnesses

Mumbai CST bridge collapse LIVE Updates: Five people have died and at least 36 people are injured after a foot overbridge near the landmark Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CST) railway station in Mumbai collapsed this evening. The collapse at one of the busiest stations in Mumbai took place during peak hours, around 7:30 pm, when there was a lot of rush on the overbridge.
Of the five casualties, two were women, both staff of nearby GT Hospital, where some of the injured have been taken.

“Foot over bridge connecting CST platform 1 north end with B T Lane near Times of India building has collapsed,” the Mumbai Police tweeted.

Eyewitnesses said repairs were being carried out on the overbridge this morning, but it was still being used. Lakhs use this foot overbridge – built in 1984 – every day.

The National Disaster Response Force or NDRF initially said 10 to 12 people were feared trapped under the debris but police later clarified that was not the case.

The traffic in the area has been affected. The police have asked commuters to use alternate routes.

“We are trying to decongest the area so as to ensure easy movement of ambulances. That’s all I can say right now,” Amitesh Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Police, Traffic, told NDTV over the phone.

Senior officers are also present at the spot.

Minors repairs had been carried out on this CST bridge as part of a safety audit ordered after another foot overbridge had collapsed last year in Andheri. 445 such bridges had to be assessed in a safety audit after last July’s Andheri bridge collapse.

The 40-year-old bridge at the Andheri station had crumpled after heavy rain. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had then said the Andheri bridge, built in 1971, had a “design flaw”.

Nine months before that, in 2017, 23 people were killed in a stampede when the Elphinstone Bridge had collapsed.

The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and serves as the headquarters of the Central Railways.

Over seven crore passengers commute in nearly 2,500 trains daily on Mumbai’s rail network, a lifeline for the city’s two crore residents. An average of almost 10 people die on the suburban railway every day, either from falling off crowded trains or while crossing the tracks.

News Source: NDTV