(LANKAPUVATH | COLOMBO) – Nine people have been arrested over the collapse of a suspension bridge in India’s western Gujarat state that killed at least 134 people on Sunday, police said.
The suspects are all associated with Oreva, a Gujarat-based electrical appliances manufacturer that performed maintenance on the 230-meter long bridge in the town of Morbi, senior police officer Ashok Kumar Yadav told reporters Monday. The bridge had only reopened last week after repairs.
The nine include two managers, two ticket clerks, two contractors and three security guards, according to Yadav.
The suspects are being investigated for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, said Yadav, who added that a special investigation team was examining the incident.
At least 134 people, including 30 children, died when the narrow bridge collapsed into the river on Sunday evening around 6:30 p.m. local time, as locals in the riverside town joined Diwali celebrations.
Some 200 people are estimated to have been on the bridge at the time, according to Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi, who said a cable at one end appears to have snapped.
