Guards on India bridge struggled to control crowd before collapse, witnesses say

A view of a damaged suspension bridge after it collapsed on Sunday, in Morbi town in the western state of Gujarat, India, November 1, 2022. REUTERS/Stringer NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

MORBI, India (Reuters) - A security guard stood at either end of a 145-year-old footbridge in the Indian town of Morbi on Sunday evening, blowing whistles and repeatedly asking surging crowds to get off the structure spanning the murky Machchhu river, witnesses said.

One of the six people who saw the bridge collapse and gave an account of its final moments to Reuters said he and his colleagues also shouted from the shore to warn of the danger.