Gujarat Morbi Bridge Collapse: Stories of Help and Hope
Highlights:
- How do rescue teams save lives?
- People who didn’t event think about their life even once
On 1 November 2022, the nation woke to the worst Chatt morning ever. More than 140 people died after a bridge collapsed in Morbi city Gujarat. The overcrowded bridge was mobbed by several children, women and many others. There was hue and cry all around. But as they – humanity always wins. There were many people from the rescue teams who didn’t even think about their life even once. Meet MorbiBridge Heroes without cape.
The heart-wrenching videos include rescue operations where rescuers were carrying dead bodies of children and pregnant ladies. The bridge collapse was quite brutal. It claimed many lives and a lot of people went missing. Teams of NDRF, Army, SDRF, air force, and navy launched the search operation as early as possible. However, some people risked their life, time, sweat and money to rescue the victims.
Meet our Morbi heroes without a cape
Ajay and Pankaj were among the 2 such people who did not hesitate to jump into the river. To save the maximum number of people, they carried 2 children together and swam to the shore.
Taufiq was one of the rescuers. While his daughter was admitted to the hospital after getting injured in the Julto Pul tragedy, Taufiq chose to stay back and help others. Naim Sheikh was one of the victims. He lost one of his friends, but still volunteered in the rescue operation. He rescued at least 25 children from the river.
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Tea sellers near Morbi Bridge Raju, worked tirelessly the whole night to save innocent lives. Hussain has been working for the City civil hospital as an ambulance driver for 15 years now. But on the night of 30 October 2022, he had to make a few rounds extra without stopping. Hussain helped rescue people throughout the night and did not budge even after his 17-year-old cousin was untraceable only to be confirmed dead later that night.
Hassena, another worker of the city civil hospital said that she cleaned the blood from the victims’ faces to make them recognisable. Haseena broke into tears while recalling the horrific night. She said that the hospital was thronged with dead bodies and the situation was worse than during the Covid period.
Milam Prakash, a social worker said, “Our team was transporting the bodies to the civil hospital. Our friends were helping people at the civil hospital too.” While the muddy water and mangrove vegetation created visibility issues. However, many social workers, charity doctors and other locals sprang into action and arranged for essentials for the affected people.
The death toll of Morbi could have been much higher if the brave citizens had not plunged into the Machu River to save people. Their rescue operation was underway much before the officials and authorities reached the needy. Many such heroes are not trained rescuers but still helped strangers indiscriminately.
