KOLKATA, India (AP) – Rescuers in Kolkata dug through large chunks of debris from an overpass that collapsed while under construction Thursday, killing at least eight people and injuring scores of others in trapped cars, trucks and other vehicles, officials said.
Army troops joined efforts to rescue those trapped inside vehicles that lay under massive concrete blocks and metal debris. Huge cranes and other rescue vehicles reached the site to clear the rubble.
The Press Trust of India news agency, quoting police sources, put the death toll at eight. More than 40 injured were admitted to two hospitals in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal state, hospital officials said.
“The area was very, very crowded. Motorized rickshaws, taxis … there was a lot of traffic,” one witness told the New Delhi Television news channel, or NDTV.
Another added: “We heard a loud rumble and then saw a lot of dust in the sky.”