mumbai

Updated: Apr 22, 2020 17:46 IST

Nothing was visible for the first few minutes after an overbridge near Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus collapsed on Thursday evening, according to witnesses and immediate rescuers.

Imran Khan (30), a driver at The Times of India situated nearby, recounted that there was dust everywhere.

“We heard a loud sound and rushed near the bridge. For the first two minutes, we could not see anything as there was dust everywhere. Few minutes later, we saw nearly 15 people severely injured after having fallen from the bridge,” Khan said.

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Mohommad Akhtar Ansari (39), a taxi driver, said he was taking a lady passenger from Churchgate to Mahim. A slab of the bridge collapsed and damaged the front portion of the vehicle. Both had a lucky escape as they managed to get back safely.

“I was on the road towards JJ flyover when the bridge collapsed. Fortunately, there were no cars on this side of the road since the traffic signal light opposite CST station was red,” Ansari said.

Another eyewitness said the overbridge was being used despite repairs being carried out this morning, the news agency reported.

One of the injured, 23-year-old Rajesh Das, a resident of Byculla, was walking on the bridge when it collapsed causing a fracture in his right hand and other injuries.

“I work at Zaveri Bazar and after work, I was coming to CST to catch a train to my hometown in Kolkata. Around 7.30 pm, when I was on the bridge, it came crashing down. Fortunately I didn’t lose consciousness and with the assistance of people who came to help me, I called my brother,” Das said. He was shifted to St George Hospital.

Khan said he and his friends took 4 people to GT hospital, about a kilometre from the site of the incident.

“I saw three women on the road who were completely unresponsive and took them to the hospital,” he said.

At least five persons were killed and 33 others injured after a portion of the concrete slab of a key foot over bridge (FOB) connecting Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) to a school on the busy Dadabhai Naoroji Road in south Mumbai collapsed on Thursday at around 7.35 pm.

Police said Apoorva Prabhu (35), Ranjana Tambe (40), Zahid Shiraj Khan (32), Bhakti Shinde (40) and Tapendra Singh (35) have been identified as the deceased.

“There were more than 20 people on the overbridge when a part of it collapsed. I saw one person who was crying for help and took him to GT hospital. He was a worker at the Metro construction site near Azad Maidan,” Lahu Kurhade, another eyewitness, said.