On Monday, the death toll in the Morbi hanging bridge collapse incident increased to 131, said Harsh Sanghavi, Gujarat Home Minister.

As many as twelve family members of Mohanbhai Kalyanji Kundariya, BJP MP from Rajkot, also lost their lives in the Morbi bridge collapse in Gujarat on Sunday evening.

Out of deceased, mostly women and children, were killed when the century-old suspension bridge on Machchhu river in Gujarat’s Morbi city collapsed Sunday night.

Sanghavi informed that a criminal case has been registered in connection with the incident.

He added that the rescue operation, however, is in its last stage in the Machchhu river and it will be over soon.

“Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel reached Morbi last night. He has been holding the command of search and rescue ops since yesterday. State government has constituted a committee to investigate this incident. I assure the people of the country that there will be no laxity in rescue & relief ops,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

PM Modi, who is on a three-day tour to Gujarat and Rajasthan, has decided to cancel his roadshow to be held in Ahmedabad on Monday in the wake of the Morbi cable bridge collapse incident in which over 60 people lost their lives on Sunday evening.

“An investigation has begun today under the leadership of Range IGP,” Sanghavi said adding that Navy, NDRF (National Disaster Relief Force), Air Force and Army arrived at the spot quickly and worked throughout the night.

“More than 200 persons have worked the entire night for search and rescue operations,” Sanghavi said.

Teams including Army, Navy, Air Force, NDRF, and Fire Brigade conducted a search operation throughout the night to find the Garkaw victims in Macchu river after the bridge collapsed, as per officials.

According to the details from the district administration, after the mishap, the system was immediately activated and rescue operations started with the help of locals.

Besides this, teams from other places also started arriving at the spot.

Around 40 doctors from various health centres, Rajkot PDU Hospital and Surendranagar Civil Hospital started emergency treatment of the injured at the Morbi Civil Hospital.

After the collapse of the bridge, the Rajkot Municipal Corporation boat and rescue materials including life jackets reached Morbi and started the rescue operation.

Emergency ambulances from Rajkot, Jamnagar, Junagadh Metropolitan Municipality and Morbi Municipality were running throughout the night to bring the injured to the hospital immediately. Several private ambulances were also involved in the rescue operation. Army team from Surendranagar joined with its three ambulances and equipment, informed the officials.

(With inputs from ANI)