Bridge collapses near Mumbai, 2 dead

A recently constructed foot overbridge near the Dombivli railway station at Mumbai collapsed on a suburban train on Friday morning killing two persons and injuring six.

The incident occurred at 1100 IST. The train was headed for Khopoli from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in south Mumbai.

"All traffic on the route has been suspended... rescue work is on," Central Railway Chief PRO S P S Jain said.

The injured have been rushed to the Lokmanya Tilak Hospital at Sion in Mumbai. The two persons killed were labourers working on the bridge, Jain said.

The bridge, which collapsed on the second class compartment of the train, was closed for public use since the past few days.

Jain said efforts are being made to restore traffic on at least two lines at the earliest.

The construction on the bridge had started in 2001. Just 14 days remained for the work to be completed.

The workers were fixing the tiles and painting the bridge, just 300 metres from the Dombivli station, when it collapsed.

Senior railway officer in charge of construction, S P Vatsa, told rediff.com: "Maharashtra Steel Fabrication Company had been given the contract of building some bridges, including this one. SAIL produced the steel used in the bridge and good materials were used. How this bridge collapsed is matter of investigation, which will be carried out by railway commissioner of safety."

"There is possibility that one of the construction hooks hanging from the bridge might have got caught in the speeding train leading to the bridge's collapse. But the exact reason will be known only after the investigations are completed," he said.

The train had dragged the bridge for almost 50 metres, damaging poles and overhead wires, before coming to a halt.