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Pix: 34 killed, 100 hurt as bridge collapses in Darjeeling

Source: PTI

Last updated on: October 23, 2011 16:00 IST

Image: Rescue workers search for bodies at the site of a collapsed bridge at Bijonbari village in Darjeeling district
Photographs: Reuters

With eight more people on Sunday succumbing to injuries, the toll in the wooden footbridge collapse in West Bengal's Darjeeling district rose to 34. More than 100 people were injured in the mishap.

The old wooden footbridge over Little Ranget spring at Bijanbari gave way under pressure of a crowd during a Gorkha Janmukti Morcha meeting nearby at Bijanbari on Saturday.

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Image: The footbridge had been weakened by the September 18 earthquake
Photographs: Reuters

Darjeeling Chief Medical Officer Health Subir Bhowmick said eight more persons died, taking the toll to 32. The CMOH said over 100 people were injured in the mishap. The seriously injured were rushed to North Bengal Medical College Hospital in Siliguri and Darjeeling Hospital.

The wooden footbridge, which had been weakened by the September 18 earthquake, collapsed when a large number of people gathered on it for the GJM meeting.

Image: Relatives of a man who was injured after a bridge collapsed at Bijonbari village, is helped inside a hospital in Darjeeling
Photographs: Reuters

Army personnel of the Mountain Brigade and the army medical corps have joined fire brigade, police and disaster management personnel in the rescue operation, district administration officials said.

The army has pressed a number of ambulances into service and is also providing medicines. Some of the injured were also admitted to Army hospital in Darjeeling, they said.