Bihar: Under-construction bridge on Ganga collapses; labourers feared dead

An under-construction four-lane bridge in Bihar on the Ganga river between Sultanganj in Bhagalpur district connecting Khagaria collapsed on Sunday, an official said.

According to sources, many labourers were working on the bridge when one of its portions collapsed, and several of them are feared dead. However, the district administration of Bhagalpur, or Bihar government, has not provided any figures on casualties yet.

A video of the collapse of the under-construction bridge has gone viral on social media.

District administration officials rushed to the site of the collapse after receiving the news, and began an investigation.

The bridge between Sultanganj and Khagaria collapsed last year as well. At that time, the officials said that the bridge collapsed due to strong winds.

The Bihar government had said that it would take action against the construction company 'SK Singla'.

After the investigation, a clean-chit was given to the company, and it was given time to complete the project.

The construction of the bridge began in 2014, and it has missed six deadlines in the past. The seventh deadline was set for June 30 but the bridge collapsed.

The construction of the bridge started on March 9, 2015. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had inaugurated the project.

The completion date of the project was March 2019.

As the project was not completed on time, the Bihar government then extended the deadline to June 2022.