Kolkata bridge collapse

Eight officials of a construction company who were alleged to have being responsible for the construction of a Kolkata flyover that collapsed, killing 24 people and injured others, have been detained for questioning by police on Friday.

The report said that the Kolkata police have launched an investigation into unnamed officials on charges of murder and criminal conspiracy, Deccan Chronicle reported.

However the charges could not be independently verified.

The accused has denied any wrongdoing and has called on the Kolkata police to investigate other possible causes for the flyover collapse including a bomb attack.

“There are various versions which are possible. Glass was found shattered at the site.

It could have been a blast,” infrastructure and Project company legal advisor, Sheela Peddinti, said at the company headquarters in Hyderabad.

Derek O’Brien of the Trinamool Congress party which governs the state of West Bengal, where Kolkata is located said that suspicions of a bomb attack were unfounded and vowed to bring those responsible to justice.

“We will take sternest possible action against the culprits,” he said.

Some 100 metres of the under-construction flyover collapsed in the busy Burrabazar district in central Kolkata Thursday, burying pedestrians, cars and rickshaws underneath it.

Hundreds of rescue workers from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) – assisted by army soldiers and police – used cranes, drills, concrete cutters and sniffer dogs to free people from the rubble.

SS Guleria, a leading official at the NDRF, said searches of the area with thermal imaging cameras and sniffer dogs had revealed there were no more survivors.

“Rescue operations have almost concluded. Our workers are focusing on the recovery of dead bodies and we will shortly clear all the rubble,” he said.

The report said that not less than 71 people were injured in the collapse, police said, adding that many of the wounded were being treated at nearby hospitals and five people remained in serious condition.

“My brother, a mason, was seriously hurt but has survived. He is in a critical condition.

“It’s all in God’s hands now,” a resident told reporters outside the hospital.

It said that the construction of the two-kilometre-long flyover started in 2008 but missed several deadlines for completion because the firm was in financial trouble, media reports said.