It was a rescue operation of Fire Department officials at the Zuari River in Sanvordem on Thursday evening, which had attracted the crowd on the small footbridge, adjacent to the main bridge connecting Sanvordem to Curchorem town.
The locals had gathered on the ill-fated footbridge to witness the rescue of a youth who had jumped into the river. Despite warnings, the curious people did not foresee the danger and the footbridge gave way due to the overweight.
The rescue team, which consisted of multiple agencies including Fire, Navy and Drishti life guards, has recovered only three bodies during their search. The Fire personnel had earlier rescued over 15 locals who had fallen in the waters and some of them who were holding on to the side barriers of the collapsed footbridge.
Locals said that there is no possibility of finding more bodies in the river. The rescue teams, however, continued looking out for possible victims.
The search operation, which had ended early morning at 3 am on Friday, recommenced at 07:30 am but till late Friday evening no more bodies were retrieved from the river.
Curchorem Police have informed that the three deceased have been identified as Ajit Prakash Ekka (30) native of Jharkhand, Basay alias Santosh Wandale (26) native of Kakoda and Basavani Arjun M (36) of Sanguem.
The entire village of Sanvordem and Curchorem was shocked with the incident after media and social media flashed the news of footbridge collapse with over 50 people feared dead. Hundreds of people had also later gathered at the spot again to check the rescue operation.
Herald spoke to an elderly local, Rama Naik, who narrated the sequence of events which led to the collapse.
He said that he, along with his friend, was coming from Curchorem towards Sanvordem and had warned the people not to enter on bridge in large numbers as it is become very weak.
“People did not listen to us. Those who were very curious to watch the rescue operation of the suicide victim thronged the footbridge without realising the imminent danger. Unfortunately after ten minutes I heard the news when I was sitting and sipping tea at a nearby stall. I was shocked to hear people screaming,” Naik said.
Another witness Sushant Bhandari said he was also a part of the observers, but was not on the footbridge. He said the people who were viewing the rescue operation were not aware of the weakness of the bridge.
“The people, who were watching the rescue operation, were not only from the local village but many of the commuters had stopped to see what is happening”, he said.
He mentioned that many of them had a lucky escape including some ladies.
Prasad Naik, another witness who is one of the luckiest escapees, said he had moved back a few metres from the footbridge because he had received a call on his mobile.
“The distance between me and the portion of the bridge which collapsed was hardly two to three metres. It was such a situation that nobody was able to help the victims for sometime as everyone was shocked with the incident,” said Naik who thanked god for saving his life.