Wednesday morning began on a good note for many, but turned into a horrifying ordeal for drivers and passengers of five vehicles that fell from a 50-foot height into the Mahisagar River after the Gambhira bridge collapsed in Vadodara district, Gujarat, on Wednesday. Thirteen people lost their lives and several suffered injuries in the incident.
Raju Anchiya, a truck driver from Dwarka, was en route to Ankleshwar with his uncle when disaster struck, The Times of India reported.
"When we were crossing the bridge, two other trucks were also passing from the stretch at the same time. The bridge suddenly collapsed, and we fell into the river. I don't have any idea how it all happened," Raju was quoted by TOI as saying.
Despite the trauma, Raju somehow managed to come out through the broken window of the truck. In a while, a boatman reached out and rescued him, the report added. "I have driven the truck many times on this bridge, and it used to shake a lot," he recalled.
Another truck driver, Ganpatsinh Solanki, had a similar close shave with death. Solanki, who started his journey from the industrial town of Dahej, was midway across the bridge when the unthinkable happened, the report added.
"I started from Dahej and was driving across the bridge when a portion of it suddenly collapsed. My truck hit one of the vehicles and fell directly into the river. It was scary as I was stuck for a while in the truck's cabin. But I somehow came out and sat on the truck that had overturned," Solanki was quoted by TOI.
Local resident Arjun Parmar said he didn't wait for official teams to arrive and promptly launched the rescue.
"I was at home when I heard about the accident and immediately rushed to the bridge. When I reached there, I saw some people in the river along with the vehicles that had fallen off the damaged bridge. My brothers and I used boats to reach the spot where the vehicles were lying in a mangled condition in the waters," Parmar was quoted by TOI.
Describing the chaotic scene, he added, "I heard a woman screaming for help and wailing that her son was missing. Within a few minutes, we rushed with boats and pulled them out."
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