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Woman dies as 33-yr-old foot overbridge collapses; structure was closed for public use last July
The body of the woman, believed to be around 50, was retrieved from the drain with the help of personnel from the Delhi Fire Service (DFS), the Delhi Disaster Response Force and Boat Club divers, officials said.
An old iron footover bridge on a drain collapsed in north Delhi. (Express Photo)
A 33-year-old iron foot overbridge over a drain in North Delhi’s Roop Nagar — closed for public use last July due to its dilapidated condition — collapsed on Tuesday, leading to the death of a woman.
The 60-foot bridge over the Najafgarh-Wazirabad drain was one of the passageways connecting Rajpura and Roop Nagar. Preliminary assessment suggested the collapse occurred due to structural deterioration of the bridge, officials said.
After the incident, PWD Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh ordered a structural audit of all similar bridges over drains across Delhi.
The Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC) department, too, constituted a three-member committee to probe the incident and submit a report within 48 hours. A senior government official said the committee will determine whether there was any proposal to dismantle the structure and construct a new pedestrian bridge. “It will also examine that if the structure was declared unsafe, why was it not dismantled. Any lapses will be viewed seriously, and action will be taken against officials found responsible,” the official added.
The body of the woman, believed to be around 50, was retrieved from the drain with the help of personnel from the Delhi Fire Service (DFS), the Delhi Disaster Response Force and Boat Club divers, officials said.
The incident occurred around 9 am, when local residents were crossing the bridge. “As it began to collapse, people rushed to safety… However, the woman, suspected to be a beggar, fell with the structure into the drain,” an official said.
Sanju, who works as a cook and lives in Rajpura, told The Indian Express that she had just crossed the bridge when it collapsed. She said she was simply walking on the bridge when she heard a loud sound from underneath it.
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“As soon as I crossed the bridge, it collapsed. I heard a loud noise during the collapse. Some people who were on the bridge may have turned back, but a woman who was sitting on the bridge fell down,” she added.
“It was a steel truss foot overbridge. The bridge is 33 years old and had already been declared unsafe… barricades and warning signage have also been put up,” said a senior government official. However, it was reportedly still being used by people, the official added.
An official involved in the rescue operation told The Indian Express that the structure was rusted. “It was inspected in March 2025 and found to be structurally unsafe,” the official added.
A DFS official said a call about the collapse was received around 9.15 am. Rescue teams, along with local police, conducted a search and located the woman under debris after nearly two hours. She was taken to a hospital, where doctors declared her dead, the official added.
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A senior police officer said that, prima facie, it was found that only the woman was trapped. Civic authorities had to use the gas cutter to remove the collapsed portion of the bridge from the drain, the officer added.
Police said a case is being registered to ascertain the circumstances under which the bridge collapsed. Police teams are working to establish the identity of the deceased, they added.
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