Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 2: The rescue teams have retrieved all the three bodies of the labourers trapped inside the wreckage of an old bridge that collapsed at Thathar area of the Jammu district on Friday, after around 12 hours of operation, officials said.
Those deceased have been identified as Panchu Sethi, son of Jagan Nath Sethi of Ganjam, Odisha and Raj Kumar and Manish Chander, both residents of Chhattisgarh, at present Patoli, Bari Brahamana.
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A fourth labourer trapped inside the debris of the collapsed bridge, identified as Tarsem Lal, son of Dafu Ram of Jhiri, was rescued after hours of hectic efforts by the teams of 13th Battalion of NDRF, SDRF and local police on Friday itself.
“It took almost 12 hours to retrieve all the bodies of the labourers from the debris of the damaged bridge,” an official said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary, who visited the tragedy site midnight, told the media persons that besides suspension of two engineers, he has also directed for attachment of the concerned Executive Engineer and blacklisting of the concerned contractor if their negligence is confirmed by the inquiry committee.
He also claimed that he was told by the PWD engineers that they had on several occasions written to the Jal Shakti Department to check the seepage towards the bridge that might have caused the damage, but the latter didn’t act.
“I am waiting for the outcome of the inquiry ordered into this incident,” Choudhary said, adding that in case negligence of any engineer, let it be from PWD or Jal Shakti Department, is confirmed, “I will not even hesitate from dismissing them.”
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