1 Dead, 24 Injured In Majerhat Bridge Collapse, Traffic, Trains Hit: Highlights

Train services in the Sealdah-Budge Budge section, which were suspended after a portion of the Majerhat bridge collapsed in south Kolkata on Tuesday, has resumed, an Eastern Railway official said, according to news agency PTI.

"We were working nearby and suddenly heard a loud bang. Then, we saw a portion of the bridge collapse," said a labourer engaged in metro railway work who witnessed the collapse of Majerhat bridge in Kolkata on Tuesday, according to news agency PTI.

"It was around 4.45 pm. We saw a minibus, cars and bikes come down with the bridge. We ran towards the spot," he said.

Another eyewitness said the bridge collapsed on the canal flowing under it, preventing a major tragedy.

"Had it collapsed on the railway tracks a major disaster could have occurred if a train arrived at that time," he said.

Shortly after the bridge collapsed, personnel from fire brigade, police and NDRF reched the spot, eye witnesses said. Locals too chipped in with the rescue work under way.

Cranes, iron cutters and drills were brought in to remove the debris, said the report from PTI.

A minibus, four cars and a few motorbikes damaged by the accident lay at the site as rescue workers tried to pull out the injured from the vehicles.

The rescue operation was continuing amidst intermittent rain.

As evening turned to night, power supply in the area was restored and additional arrangements were made to facilitate the fire brigade personnel trying to reach those still feared trapped underneath the tonnes of concrete.

"We are drilling on one side of the collapsed concrete to find whether anyone is trapped under," a fire brigade official said.

Nearby areas had been dug up for metro railway construction work and construction material are strewn all over the place.

The entire area has been cordoned off by police after curious onlookers gathered around the site of the accident.

Prantika Goswami, a student, who was in a minibus during the collapse of the bridge was injured and taken to a hospital, according to PTI.

Five teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been sent to Kolkata for rescuing operations after a bridge in the West Bengal city collapsed Tuesday, killing one and trapping several people, according to a report from the Press Trust of India.

Soumen Bag, 21, was travelling from Silpara to College Street, when he was dies in the Majerhat bridge collapse.

A section of a bridge in south Kolkata's posh Alipore area crashed down in the middle of afternoon today, killing at least one person and raising fears of others being trapped under the rubble. The army and locals, who rushed to the rescue, have managed to save 19 lives, sources said. The collapse sent shockwaves through the city, where 26 people died two years ago in a similar tragedy. While the BJP blamed the Chief Minister and her government, Mamata Banerjee, who is on a visit to Darjeeling said rescue, not fixing responsibility, is the need of the hour.

The Majerhat bridge collapse incident in Kolkata is extremely tragic. Four NDRF teams have already reached the spot. One more team is on the way. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured: Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

"We are trying to assess if there are people trapped beneath the debris," Sovan Chatterjee, the mayor of Kolkata, who visited the accident site, told Reuters.