The collapse of the 40-year-old Gambhira Bridge over the Mahisagar River in Gujarat’s Vadodara district on July 9 has claimed 22 lives, with the death of 34-year-old Dilip Padhiyar at SSG Hospital on Tuesday night, hours after a perilous chemical tanker was successfully removed from the wreckage. One person, Vikramsinh Padhiyar, remains missing, as rescue and recovery efforts persist amid growing calls for infrastructure accountability.

Dilip Padhiyar, a resident of Borsad taluka in Anand district, was returning home after a night shift at a Vadodara factory when the bridge gave way, plunging at least six vehicles—two trucks, two vans, an autorickshaw, and a two-wheeler—into the river. Rescued by locals among five survivors, Padhiyar suffered severe fractures in his right hand and left leg, spending nearly four weeks in the ICU before succumbing to an infection. “The death toll now stands at 22, with all other injured discharged,” said Vadodara Collector Anil Dhameliya. The tragedy, Gujarat’s seventh major bridge collapse since 2021, has fueled outrage over neglected infrastructure.

A high-risk operation on Tuesday, led by the Porbandar-based Marines Emergency Response Centre (MERC), successfully extracted a chemical tanker that dangled from the shattered bridge for 27 days. The complex effort involved 70 personnel, including specialist engineers, using air-lifting roller capsules and a strain jack to align the tanker with the road.

Two large cranes, positioned on an adjoining road to avoid the unstable bridge, completed the lift, with four drones recording the process for safety and precision. “The tanker was 600–700 meters from the Anand side, on a collapsed span. No equipment could be mounted on the bridge, so we created a custom setup to manage the 200-ton load,” explained Anand Collector Praveen Chaudhary. MERC hailed the operation as a “technically challenging” success, completed in a single attempt.

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The initial collapse killed 20 people instantly, with 20 bodies recovered. Of the five rescued, two—Narendrabhai Parmar and Dilip Padhiyar—died during treatment. A preliminary probe blamed “crushing of pedestal and articulation joints,” leading to the suspension of four Roads and Buildings Department engineers—N.M. Nayakawala, U.C. Patel, R.T. Patel, and J.V. Shah—for negligence.

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has ordered a 30-day technical investigation, while a temporary bridge aids recovery efforts. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM Patel announced ex-gratia payments of Rs 2 lakh and Rs 4 lakh, respectively, for the deceased’s families, and Rs 50,000 for the injured.

Local panchayat member Harshadsinh Parmar’s 2022 warnings about the bridge’s deterioration were ignored, according to residents and the Gujarat Congress, amplifying demands for statewide structural audits. The operation faced challenges from mud, rain, and the tanker’s sulfuric acid load, which was safely neutralized to prevent environmental damage.

As Vadodara mourns, the tragedy—following the 2022 Morbi collapse that killed 135—underscores the urgent need for accountability and infrastructure reform to prevent further loss of life.

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