A 42-year-old woman and her three-year-old son died after a wooden bridge over the Ganga collapsed while a family of five was crossing it on a motorcycle in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad district on Friday evening, police said on Saturday. The woman’s husband and two other children were rescued by villagers.
Police subsequently launched a search operation. Anil, Keshav and Kafiya were pulled to safety, but Kiran and Priyanshu were swept away by the strong current. Divers later recovered Kiran who was rushed to the district hospital where doctors declared her dead. The search for Priyanshu continued through the night.
The incident occurred around 7:30 pm at Chattha near Malkpur village under Majhola police station when the family was returning home after celebrating Raksha Bandhan at the woman’s parental home in Nanpur village. Labourer Anil Jatav, 45, a resident of Mahmoodpur in Chhajlet, travelled to his in-laws’ home with his wife Kiran, 42, their sons Keshav, 7, and Priyanshu, 3, and daughter Kafiya, 5, for the festival, according to police. After nearly 20 hours of search, divers fished out Priyanshu’s body.
Darkness made the rescue operation difficult, forcing divers to conduct searches with the help of torchlights, according to SSP Satpal. The search operation was resumed on Saturday morning, with an SDRF team also called in to assist.
After the celebrations, the family was returning home a motorcycle. When they reached the small wooden Chattha bridge at Malkpur, three wooden planks suddenly broke following which the family fell into the river. As they screamed for help, passers-by rushed to the spot. Some villagers entered the river in an attempt to rescue them.
