Vadodara Bridge Collapse: So far 18 people have died due to the collapse of the bridge over the Mahisagar river in Vadodara, Gujarat. Officials said that search and rescue operations at the scene were stopped for one night. This campaign will start again in the morning on Friday (July 11), as two people are still missing.

In fact, on the morning of Wednesday (July 9), a part of a 40 -year -old bridge collapsed in Gambhira village near Padra town. There were many vehicles on the bridge, which fell into the river. This bridge connects the districts of Anand and Vadodara.

Campaign stopped due to boom in river
Vadodara District Magistrate Anil Dhelia informed that with the receipt of another body on Thursday night, the death toll in this accident has increased to 18. Two people are still missing. The rescue operation has been stopped due to the boom in the river and has been resumed on Friday morning.

The search and rescue operations were carried out throughout the day by at least 10 teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and other agencies.

CM Bhupendra Patel suspended four engineers
According to information received from the officials, some vehicles including a truck laden in the river are still stuck. Therefore, the district administration has used a ‘high performance truck’ of the Indian Army to take them out. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, while taking action in connection with the bridge collapse, suspended four engineers of the state’s road and building department.

The suspended officers have been identified as Executive Engineer NM Nayakwala, Deputy Executive Engineer UC Patel and RT Patel and Assistant Engineer JV Shah. Apart from this, Chief Minister Patel, who is also handling the charge of road and building departments, had asked experts to prepare a report on the repair, inspection and quality check done on the bridge and on the basis of this report, it was decided to suspend the four engineers.

The rest of the bridges will also have quality checks
CM Patel has ordered the department officials to immediately inspect other bridges of the state in view of the incident. Meanwhile, the officials seem to protect themselves from the fact that a social worker drew attention to the poor condition of this bridge in August 2022.

Three years ago, information about the bridge was informed
After the bridge collapsed, a three -year -old audio clip is going viral on the social media platform in which social activist Lakhan Darbar, who runs the ‘Yuva Sena’ organization, can be heard by an officer of the road and building departments to repair the bridge or build a new bridge.

Lakhan Darbar told the officer that Vadodara District Panchayat member Harshad Singh Parmar also sent a letter to the department and expressed concern over the situation of the bridge built four decades ago. Significantly, when the local media spoke to Nayakwala, the executive engineer of Vadodara division of the department on Wednesday after the incident, he claimed that no major malfunction was found in the bridge during the inspection of the department.

The suspended engineer claimed- no malfunction in the bridge
Nayakwala, one of the four officers suspended by the Chief Minister, said, “There was no demand to close the bridge for the movement of vehicles.” According to our report, no major damage was found during our inspection. There was some problem in the bearings coat, but it was repaired only last year.

Since 2021 in Gujarat, there have been at least six major incidents of bridge collapse. In October 2022, 135 people died after the demolition of the British Jhula Bridge on the Machhu river in Morbi city.

The bridge over the Mahisagar river in Vadodara district of Gujarat suddenly fell. Many vehicles collapsed in the river due to the bridge collapsed. 15 people have lost their lives in this accident and many people are also injured. This bridge on the Mahisagar river was built for 100 years in 1985, but it collapsed in 40 years. In such a situation, the question arises that how many years will it last, how is it decided? In fact, this bridge accident has raised many questions about the safety of bridges across the country.

Actually, whenever a bridge is constructed, its age is also fixed at the same time. In such a situation, let us know who decides the age of the bridge? How is this decided and how does it find that the age of a bridge has been completed? And can the age of the bridge be increased?

What is taken care of while building a bridge?

Whenever a bridge is constructed, the most important question while preparing the DPR is what is it being made and what will be its capacity? That is, how many vehicles will pass through this bridge every day and year. The age of the bridge is determined only after the capacity is assessed. For example, if a bridge is being built above the river, then according to the general rule, its maximum age is prescribed 100 years. Similarly, the age of railway bridge is also 100 years. At the same time, bridges on the highway are built for at least 50 years.

How many days will the bridge last, how is it decided?

There are common ways to build any bridge, such as concrete, steel or wood. The age of wooden bridges is low, so their use is also almost closed. Now most bridges are made from concrete or steel. Bridges made of concrete or steel are normally older. How many years a bridge will last, it is decided on the basis of what things are being used in the bridge making material and how is their quality. Apart from this, the age of the bridge also depends on its design.

Can the age of the bridge be increased?

The answer is- Yes, the age of the bridge can be increased. For this, it is necessary that a bridge is regular maintenance and repair. If the bridge is being repaired at the right time, then the period of its running increases.

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Many vehicles fell into the river due to the collapse of Gambhira bridge in Vadodara district of Gujarat. 9 people died in the accident. The video after this accident is viral. It can be seen that the entire slab between the two pillars of the bridge has collapsed.

It can be seen in the video that a tanker with 16 wheels rests on the damaged slab stuck on a flywheel pillar. The rest of the part is on the bridge. Thankfully, the driver riding in it survived.

According to the news agency PTI, Gujarat Health Minister Rishikesh Patel said that five to 6 vehicles fell into the Mahisagar river due to a slab collapse of the Gambhira bridge.

The bridge was built 40 years ago

The Gambhra bridge situated on the Mahisagar river connects the Central Gujarat and the Saurashtra region of the state. The minister said that the bridge was constructed in 1985 and it was maintained from time to time and when needed. The minister said, “The real cause of the incident will be investigated.” There are 23 pillars of the 900 meter long Gambhra bridge and it connects Vadodara and Anand districts of Gujarat.

Watch | Broken bridge in Gujarat … vehicles fell in river@Romanaisarkhan , https://t.co/SMWHXUROIK #Gambhirabridgecolpse #Gujarat pic.twitter.com/ruq4d8bdw

– ABP News (@Abpnews) July 9, 2025

Padra Police Inspector Vijay Charan had earlier said that the incident took place at around 7.30 am. Some vehicles, including two trucks and two vans, fell into the river. An official said that rescue operations are being carried out with the help of Vadodara fire department team and local people.

PM Modi spoke to CM

After the Gambhira bridge accident, PM Modi spoke to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel over the phone. CM has given this information on X. He said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked to me on the telephone during his foreign trip and got complete information about the accident on the Gambhra bridge connecting Anand-Vadodara and expressed his condolences to those killed in the accident.”

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said that PM Modi has announced compensation for those killed in the accident and injured. The PMO said that the family of each deceased will be given an ex -gratia amount of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund. At the same time, Rs 50,000 will be given to the injured.

CM ordered an inquiry

CM said, “The tragedy caused by the collapse of a slab of Gambhra bridge connecting Anand and Vadodara is sad. I pray for the peace of the souls of those killed in this accident. Instructions have been given to arrange for immediate treatment of the injured by talking to the Vadodara Collector and arranging on the basis of priority. ”

Bhupendra Patel said, “Local municipality and Vadodara Municipal Corporation’s fire teams are engaged in rescue and relief operations at the accident site with boats and swimmers, as well as the NDRF team has also reached the spot and joined the rescue operation.