Gujarat bridge collapse: My kids and husband drowning, save them, pleads woman from middle of river

Vadodara | Perched atop a submerged vehicle, 35-year-old Sonalben Padhiyar kept pleading to onlookers to save her two children and husband after the vehicle they were travelling in plunged into the Mahisagar river in Gujarat on Wednesday morning.

By the time rescuers reached the spot, it was too late. Her husband and kids had already drowned, and the responders could only recover their bodies.

A viral video capturing the heart-wrenching scene shows Sonalben sitting on the submerged wreckage of a vehicle, with her body partially under water. Profusely crying, she seeks help from those gathered near the accident site.

“My children drowned...my husband drowned, please save them,” she screams in Gujarati. To console her, the person recording the video from the bridge tells her that rescue teams are on their way.

Sonalben’s Ramesh Padhiyar (38), daughter Vedika (4) and son Naitik (2) were among the ten persons who were killed after multiple vehicles plunged into the Mahisagar river when a portion of a bridge collapsed in Gujarat’s Vadodara district in the morning.

After being brought to the riverbank, Sonalben, a resident of Mujpur village in Padra taluka of Vadodara, said she sought help for nearly one hour but in vain.

Situated on the banks of Mahisagar, Mujpur is very close to the bridge.

“We were headed to Bagdana in Bhavnagar to offer prayers. There were seven passengers in our van. We left at 6.30 am and reached the bridge around 7 am. When we were crossing it, a portion collapsed, causing many vehicles to plunge into the river,” she told reporters.

A slab of the Gambhira bridge, which connects central Gujarat to the Saurashtra region and is located near Padra town, caved in, killing ten persons, Superintendent of Police (Vadodara rural) Rohan Anand said.

Visuals from the site showed the entire chunk of the slab of the bridge between two piers has collapsed. The slab collapse caused the vehicles, which were passing through the bridge, to fall into the river.

“Since I was sitting on the back side of the van, I somehow managed to come out. But my husband and children got trapped because a truck fell right on our vehicle. The water was also deep. I kept crying for help for nearly an hour, but no one came forward,” said an inconsolable Sonalben.