Multiple maintenance failures led to fatal India bridge collapse, investigation finds

Corroded wires and untested changes to the walking deck were among the reasons for October’s tragic bridge collapse in Morbi, India, an investigatory panel has found.

The failure of the 230m-long, 1.25m-wide bridge known as Julto Pul occurred on the evening of 30 October 2022, killing 135 people and injuring at least 180 more. The bridge across the Machachu river in Morbi was inaugurated in 1879 and had a design capacity of around 125 people. It is estimated that there were around 300 on it at the time of collapse.

The incident occurred just days after it had reopened following six months of renovation works, but the maintenance had not been checked by authorities prior to its reopening to the public. The bridge’s owner and operator, a local watches and electronics manufacturing company called Oreva Group, had wanted to reopen the bridge in time to capitalise on the Gujarati New Year’s Day celebrations.

The Gujarati High Court has called into question the agreement between the Morbi municipality and Oreva. Former Morbi municipal chief Sandeepsinh Zala and Oreva Group managing director Jaysukh Patel have both been arrested in connection with the incident.

A five-person special investigation team was formed by the state government to look into the causes of the collapse. Its preliminary investigation report identifies that the main cables were not inspected and that the cable on the upstream side was “broken on one side”. The report details that, of the 49 wires that make up the main cable, 22 were corroded, meaning they were already compromised before the incident. The other 27 snapped in the failure.

Further discoveries outlined in the report state that the renovation works saw old suspenders and new suspenders incorrectly welded together. On the deck, wooden planks were replaced by aluminium sheets, which the report says was another fatal error as wood’s flexibility would have reduced the number of casualties.

The report adds that the deal signed between Zala and Oreva was illegal. It also highlights the lack of security on the bridge, leading to unrestricted access and therefore overloading, as a central fault behind the collapse.

ICE Fellow and independent bridge consultant Richard Fish said: “For a bridge of this age, bearing in mind it was older than Brooklyn Bridge in New York, there would inevitably have been significant defects – such as corroded and broken wires in the suspension system – which should have been addressed in the refurbishment. It seems, though, that even basic inspections left much to be desired because the report implies that 22 out of the 49 wires in the main cable were broken before the collapse. Factoring in the lack of control of the numbers of people on the bridge at the time, and the collapse would have been unavoidable.

“The second point is one of ethics. The report states that 'Repair work was carried out without consulting competent technical experts. The company outsourced the repair works to a non-competent agency.' There seems to be little or no evidence of professional engineering input into the management of the bridge. It appears that the competence and awareness of the responsibility that bridge engineers have in managing risk and safeguarding the public were sadly overlooked in this tragedy. Both of the statements quoted above are literally criminal.”

Oreva Group proposed to pay Rs3.5 lakh (£3,500) in ad hoc compensation for each of the 135 fatalities and Rs1 lakh (£1,000) to each of the injured people. The Gujarati High Court called both amounts inadequate and it is in the process of fixing interim compensation in light of demands from relatives of the victims. The government has already paid Rs10 lakh (£10,000) to families of the deceased and Rs2 lakh (£2,000) to the injured, but it is possible that it will have to pay more, according to The Times of India.

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