Skip to main content

Helpless Wait For Missing Couple At Gujarat Hospital Sprucing Up For PM

Vinod Dapat is looking for his brother-in-law's young daughter and her fiance

Morbi, Gujarat:

As a hospital in Gujarat's Morbi was given a last-minute spruce-up ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the site, a man frantically searched for a missing couple past midnight, but complained that everyone was preoccupied with the mega visit.

Vinod Dapat said he had looked everywhere for his brother-in-law's young daughter and her fiancé, who had gone to the century-old "hanging bridge" for a Sunday outing.

"It has been more than 24 hours, I have gone to the bridge site, I have searched high and low in the hospital, but no one is helping," he told NDTV as he continued his vigil late into the night.

Vinod's niece Manisha had called her family around 4 pm on Sunday and had told them that she was heading to the bridge.

That was the last they heard from her.

Around 6.31 pm, the bridge collapsed, killing 131 people and devastating scores of families.

"Since then, their phone is switched off and we haven't heard anything from either of them," Vinod said.

"I have been here since yesterday. I came from Jamnagar. I went to the site and saw many bodies being recovered from the river. But there is no sign of them."

His hope fading, Vinod said it was frustrating to wait for news, any news on the missing couple. "Even if someone could tell me about their bodies. But no one is telling us anything. The hospital is busy painting their walls for the PM. This is the state of our country," he said, alleging that the administration was completely focused on the visit.

The newly renovated bridge, reopened on October 26, snapped under the weight of close to 500 people on Sunday evening.

Nine people, including officials of the company hired to renovate the bridge, have been arrested. Oreva, a watchmaker, allegedly violated the conditions of the contract by opening the bridge to the public ahead of schedule. It also outsourced the bridge repair to a smaller company.

Adblock test (Why?)



from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/K8a1GBV https://ift.tt/VHvJYPw
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

US Defense Chief Austin To Make 'Full Recovery' From Cancer: Doctors

Austin, a 70-year-old career soldier, initially underwent minor surgery to treat cancer on December 22. Washington: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is likely to make a "full recovery" from prostate cancer and his prognosis is "excellent," two doctors said after he was seen at Walter Reed hospital for a follow-up appointment. Austin controversially kept US President Joe Biden in the dark about the cancer diagnosis for weeks, and did not inform either the commander-in-chief or Congress until days after he was hospitalized on January 1 for complications from his treatment. "Secretary Austin was seen today at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for a scheduled post-prostatectomy surveillance appointment," the doctors said in a statement released by the Pentagon. "He continues to recover well and is expected to make a full recovery. Secretary Austin's prostate cancer was treated early and effectively, and his prognosis is excellent,...

North Korea Says It Tested New Strategic Cruise Missile

North Korea test-fired a new generation of strategic cruise missile on Wednesday. (Representational) Seoul: North Korea fired several cruise missiles towards the Yellow Sea on Wednesday, Seoul's military said, the latest in a series of tension-raising moves by the nuclear-armed state. Hours later, North Korea appeared to confirm the firing, saying it had carried out its first test of a new generation of strategic cruise missiles it is developing, the Pulhwasal-3-31. Pyongyang has accelerated weapons testing in the new year, including tests of what it called an "underwater nuclear weapon system" and a solid-fuelled hypersonic ballistic missile. "Our military detected several cruise missiles launched by North Korea towards the Yellow Sea at around 7:00 am today," the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. Unlike their ballistic counterparts, the testing of cruise missiles is not banned under current UN sanctions against Pyongyang. Cruise...

US "Deplores" Israeli Attack On UN Training Center In Gaza

More than 25,000 people have been killed in Gaza since war began against Hamas. Washington: The United States was concerned by an Israeli attack on a U.N. training center sheltering displaced people in Gaza's Khan Younis on Wednesday, Deputy State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said, repeating Washington's calls for protection of civilians, humanitarian workers and aid facilities. "We deplore today's attack on the U.N.'s Khan Younis training center," Patel told a news briefing, calling it "incredibly concerning." The Director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza said that nine Palestinians were killed and 75 were injured when two tank rounds hit the building that was sheltering around 800 people in the southern Gaza Strip. "Civilians must be protected, and the protected nature of UN facilities must be respected, and humanitarian workers must be protected so that they can continue providing civilians with the life-saving humanitarian assistance...