Jammu, May 2 (IANS) Three labourers died and one was rescued alive during the nightlong search and rescue operation after an under-construction bridge collapsed in Jammu and Kashmir’s (J&K) Jammu city.

Officials said on Saturday that the night-long rescue operation to pull out four labourers trapped under the debris of an under-construction bridge in Bantalab’s Thathar area concluded in the early hours of Saturday, with three workers found dead while one trapped labourer was rescued alive.

The rescue operation, which began soon after the bridge section collapsed around Friday evening, continued through the night.

Teams of J&K Police, the Indian Army, SDRF, NDRF and the civil administration worked together, using JCBs and other heavy machinery to clear the debris and locate the trapped men.

The four labourers were working beneath the bridge when the structure gave way suddenly, trapping them under mounds of concrete and steel. At around 1 A.M., the rescue teams managed to pull out one injured labourer alive.

He was immediately shifted to a hospital and is stated to be stable. The bodies of the other three workers were recovered shortly after.

“We worked through the night. The rescue operation concluded at 1 A.M. One worker has been saved, three have died,” Additional District Development Commissioner (ADC) Jammu, Thakur Sher Singh told reporters.

Under construction bridges and buildings have previously also caved in occasionally in the past in different parts of the country and even structures declared fit for traffic movement or human habitation have sometimes collapsed causing loss of previous human lives.

Invariably accountability in such cases is ensured and responsibility has been fixed in the past to compensate the survivors, although there can be no compensation enough to meet the loss of a human’s life.

One of the worst bridge collapse accident in the country happened on October 30, 2022 when a pedestrian suspension bridge over the Machchhu River in the city of Morbi in Gujarat collapsed, causing the deaths of at least 141 people and injuries to more than 180 others.

–IANS

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