Gandhinagar: The Morbi bridge collapse in Gujarat happened because God willed it that way, one of the arrested persons told a court on Wednesday.
As many as 135 people, including around 50 children, were killed when the 140-year-old suspension foot bridge gave way on Sunday evening.
“It was bhagwan ki ichcha (the will of God) that such an unfortunate event happened,” Deepak Parekh, a manager of Oreva, the company responsible for maintenance of the bridge, told Chief Judicial Magistrate MJ Khan.
Nine persons, including two officials of Oreva, have been arrested so far.
Parekh, another manager of Oreva Group along with two sub-contractors who had repaired the bridge have been sent to police custody till Saturday. Five other arrested men, including security guards and ticket-booking clerks, are in judicial custody.
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The British-era bridge, which was closed for several months, had been reopened on October 26 without government approval or proper testing.
According to Morbi DSP PA Zala, the cable of the bridge had rusted, but not been replaced by the company.
“As part of maintenance and repair, only the platform was changed. The bridge was on a cable and no oiling or greasing of the cable was done. From where the cable broke, the cable was rusted. Had the cable been repaired, the incident would not have happened,” the DSP told the court.
Hundreds of people were allowed entry to the bridge, which could not take the the weight of the new flooring. The weight of the bridge had increased due to four-layered aluminium sheets used in the flooring.
