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KOLKATA, India – At least 10 people were killed and another 150 believed trapped when a portion of an overpass under construction collapsed in a congested area in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata on Thursday, police said.
Army troops joined efforts to rescue those trapped inside cars, trucks and other vehicles that lay under massive concrete blocks and metal debris. Witnesses said that emergency personnel were attempting to use their bare hands to rescue those caught under the wreckage.
Local media reported that heavy duty cranes had been brought in to try to move the remains of the bridge, but attempts have so far been unsuccessful.
More than 40 injured were admitted to two hospitals in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal state, hospital officials said.
The collapse occurred in Bara Bazaar, a busy residential and shopping area in the city of approximately 4.5 million people.
"The area was very, very crowded. Motorized rickshaws, taxis ... there was a lot of traffic," one witness told the New Delhi Television news channel, or NDTV.
Another added: "We heard a loud rumble and then saw a lot of dust in the sky."
Television footage from the site showed people passing water bottles through to those who are crying out for help from beneath the debris. Bloody legs of some of the trapped people jutting out of the collapsed girders and concrete slabs
Some witnesses have been critical of the initial response, with one saying there appears to be very little coordination on the ground.
"The condition is pathetic. At this moment no one has any clue how many people are trapped," a police officer at the scene told Reuters.
O.P. Singh, the head of India's National Disaster Response Force, said the operation was a "very, very challenging task."
Building collapses are common in India, where builders use poor enforcement of regulations and use substandard materials. The overpass that collapsed Thursday was due to be completed in 2013, but construction had been delayed several times.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/0...rapped-after-overpass-collapses-in-india.html
Army troops joined efforts to rescue those trapped inside cars, trucks and other vehicles that lay under massive concrete blocks and metal debris. Witnesses said that emergency personnel were attempting to use their bare hands to rescue those caught under the wreckage.
Local media reported that heavy duty cranes had been brought in to try to move the remains of the bridge, but attempts have so far been unsuccessful.
More than 40 injured were admitted to two hospitals in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal state, hospital officials said.
The collapse occurred in Bara Bazaar, a busy residential and shopping area in the city of approximately 4.5 million people.
"The area was very, very crowded. Motorized rickshaws, taxis ... there was a lot of traffic," one witness told the New Delhi Television news channel, or NDTV.
Another added: "We heard a loud rumble and then saw a lot of dust in the sky."
Television footage from the site showed people passing water bottles through to those who are crying out for help from beneath the debris. Bloody legs of some of the trapped people jutting out of the collapsed girders and concrete slabs
Some witnesses have been critical of the initial response, with one saying there appears to be very little coordination on the ground.
"The condition is pathetic. At this moment no one has any clue how many people are trapped," a police officer at the scene told Reuters.
O.P. Singh, the head of India's National Disaster Response Force, said the operation was a "very, very challenging task."
Building collapses are common in India, where builders use poor enforcement of regulations and use substandard materials. The overpass that collapsed Thursday was due to be completed in 2013, but construction had been delayed several times.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/0...rapped-after-overpass-collapses-in-india.html
