Death toll in Junagadh wall collapse touches 4

RAJKOT: The death toll in the collapse of a wall of an underbridge in Junagadh reached four as the fire brigade personnel fished out three more bodies from the rubble.
According to Junagadh police, a wall of the underbridge in Joshipura had collapsed on Sunday morning following heavy rain in the town. The wall crashed even as there was vehicular movement in the underbridge whose water-level was steadily rising due to the rain.
However, some of the vehicles could not pass through the waterlogged underbridge and got stuck in the rain water.
The fire brigade personnel and other rescue teams of Junagadh Municipal Corporation (JMC) joined the search operations as there was no idea about how many vehicles were stranded inside.
A mini bus and two rickshaws were spotted on Sunday. The rescue team fished out the body of auto rickshaw driver Dharmesh Karia, 28, a resident of Kadiyavad locality in Junagadh.
On Monday, three more bodies were found. They were idendified as Imran Sida (14), Ravi Vasra (30) and Pankaj Gajera (30), all residents of Junagadh. Pankaj and Ravi were on their motorbikes while Imran was going on his bicycle, said B N Vank, investigating officer, Junagadh's B division police station.
Sources said that after rain water receded, rescue teams found the two auto-rickshaws, three bicycles, three motorbikes and the mini bus from the underbridge.
JMC on Monday announced compensation of Rs 1 lakh each to kin of deceased and Rs 25,000 to injured persons in the incident.
Meanwhile, Saurashtra region observed cloudy weather throughout the day on Monday. India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted light to moderate rainfall in the next two days in Saurashtra and north Gujarat region. Saurashtra has received 37 per cent average annual rainfall so far.