With eight more people today succumbing to injuries, the toll in the wooden footbridge collapse in West Bengal's Darjeeling district rose to 32.
The old wooden footbridge over Little Ranget spring at Bijanbari gave way under pressure of a crowd during a Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) meeting nearby at Bijanbari yesterday.
Darjeeling Chief Medical Officer Health Subir Bhowmick said eight more persons died, taking the toll to 32.
The CMOH said over 60 people were injured in the mishap. The seriously injured were rushed to North Bengal Medical College Hospital in Siliguri and Darjeeling Hospital.
The wooden footbridge, which had been weakened by the September 18 earthquake, collapsed when a large number of people gathered on it for the GJM meeting.
Army personnel of the Mountain Brigade and the army medical corps have joined fire brigade, police and disaster management personnel in the rescue operation, district administration officials said.
The army has pressed a number of ambulances into service and is also providing medicines. Some of the injured were also admitted to Army hospital in Darjeeling, they said.
Darjeeling district administration sources said that the army, police, fire brigade and disaster management personnel are continuing search and rescue operations to find any more missing people.
North Bengal Development Minister Goutam Deb said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had instructed the authorities of North Bengal Medical College Hospital (NBCH) at Siliguri and Darjeeling Hospital to provide the best medical treatment to the injured persons.
Deb had yesterday rushed to the spot to oversee rescue and relief operations at Bijanbari.
Member of Parliament from Darjeeling and senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh today announced Rs50 lakh from his MPLAD fund for construction of a new bridge in place of the old wooden footbridge over Little Ranget at Bijanbari.
Meanwhile, Banjeree accompanied by Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi is on her way to Darjeeling to visit the injured persons at NBCH and Darjeeling Hospital, official sources said.
