Himalaya Harbinger, Rudrapur Bureau
The death toll in the Gambhira Bridge collapse over the Mahisagar River in Gujarat’s Vadodara district has risen to fifteen, with search operations continuing more than 24 hours after the incident.
The incident occurred at 7:30am on Wednesday. The official death toll reported till Wednesday late evening was 12.
Three more bodies were recovered since Wednesday night. Two lorries, an SUV, a pickup van and an auto-rickshaw fell into the water after a span of the Gambhira Bridge gave way at Padra.
Dramatic visuals of a tanker hanging precariously from the damaged structure went viral on social media.
We have recovered 15 bodies so far. According to our list, another four persons are missing. Five persons have been rescued, and their condition is stable,” said Vadodara district collector Anil Dhameliya.
The 1985-built bridge, which connects Anand and Vadodara districts, had been increasingly used by heavy lorries seeking to avoid tolls on the six-lane Mumbai-Ahmedabad national highway—a detour that shortened their journey by 30-35 kilometres, locals said.
Rescue operations have been ongoing near Mujpur village in Padra, with teams working to locate the missing and retrieve bodies from the debris.
A truck laden with ceramic tiles, stuck in thick sludge in the Mahisagar riverbed, became a focal point of the search as it was suspected to have trapped victims or held clues to the whereabouts of the missing.
Floodlights were used late into the night, and steel cables attached to an excavator uprighted the truck, after which three bodies were recovered, said officials.
The bodies were sent to the Padra Community Health Centre for medical examination and handed over to their families. Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel announced a compensation of ₹4 lakh for the families of those who died in the bridge collapse.
In November 2024 a proposal was cleared by the state government to build a new bridge for a project cost of ₹217 crore, said an official aware of the matter.
By late Wednesday evening, two deceased were identified, said officials. The collapse disrupted traffic between Anand, Vadodara, Bharuch, and Saurashtra. Heavy vehicles now use the Vasad route, and light vehicles take the Umeta route.
