Bridge collapse: Anklav Taluka in Gujarat’s Anand mourns those who left for work, but never made it

A few minutes before the tragedy, Rajesh’s brother Arjun had crossed the same bridge while returning home from his night shift.

“As soon as I reached home, I learnt that the bridge had collapsed. Immediately, we tried Rajesh’s mobile number but could not connect with him. We rushed to the spot but did not get any information till afternoon when we saw the video and photographs, provided by the rescue and health team, that were shared by the Sarpanch on the village group. We knew it was him,” Arjun, Rajesh’s elder brother, told The Indian Express.

The same morning, at Bamangam, a village situated around 2 km from the bridge on the Anand district side in Anklav taluka, Dilipbhai Ishwarbhai Padhiar took out his motorbike to head to his workplace – a pharma company in Ekalbara, Vadodara. On the way, he offered a ride to his neighbour and colleague Mohanbhai Bhikhabhai Chavda (52). Atulbhai Jayantibhai Rathod (21), who was also going to work, joined the two till the nearest bus stop.

Their motorbike was among the several vehicles that plunged into the river. On Thursday, Mohanbhai and Atul’s bodies were handed over to the families. Dilip’s body was recovered later in the day.

At their modest house, Dilip’s two-year-old daughter Ayushi was calling out for her father amid the relentless stream of relatives and villagers pouring into their home. “Papa is still at work,” she said. “It gets tougher each minute,” sighed her mother.

At Atul’s home, his father is trying to come to terms with the loss.

“I ensured that all my children should at least be graduates. Atul completed his B Sc last year and took a job in a chemical company in Karakhadi, some 35 km from here. My younger son has done B Com and elder daughter, M Sc and B Ed. Atul would generally hitch a ride till the bus stop with whoever from the village was headed in that direction. Nobody knew that it would end the lives of all three in such a manner,” Jayantibhai Rathod told The Indian Express. He was the only male member of the family present at home with others at the cremation ground for Atul’s funeral. “They did not take me as they thought I would fall sick,” the father added.
For the last six months, Atul had been the only person in the family with a regular income – Rs 12,000 every month.

The body of the fourth dead from Bamangam, Yogesh Patel, was recovered on Thursday evening.

At Gambhira village, two were reported dead — Jashbhai Shankarbhai Harijan (58) and Kanjibhai Mailabhai Machi (75). Like most of the other victims, they were also headed towards their jobs in GIDC Padra and Vadodara, respectively, early on Wednesday morning when the autorickshaw they were travelling in fell in the Mahisagar as the bridge collapsed midway.

“They were facing difficulty in finding conveyance and finally took a shared auto rickshaw till the bus stop. We received a call from one of my friends about the bridge collapse…” Kanjibhai’s son Jayantibhai (47) told The Indian Express. Kanjibhai had been working at a snack shop in Vadodara for the last 30 years. “We checked with his employer who confirmed that he had not reached. When I could not connect with my father on his mobile phone, I realised something was wrong. Later, we recognised him in the video and photographs of the bodies recovered from the river…”