Meet the angels of Morbi bridge tragedy who saved more than 50 lives
Video footage emerged of the moments before Sunday evening’s deadly collapse, showing the bridge snapping in a few seconds.
On October 30, Vadodara, Gujarat celebrated Chatt puja, when the British-era bridge – Morbi bridge -with 500 men, women, and children collapsed taking down more than 140 lives.
These lives, mostly women and children, who had come to celebrate their loved ones were lost to a devastating tragedy.
In this chaos, a few men and women came as good samaritans and saved more than 50 lives by swimming to and fro each time and bringing people to safety.
These men – Taufeeq Bhai, Naeem Sheikh, and Hussain Pathan – and many others whose names are unknown did not care if the people whose lives they were saving belonged to different religions. All they cared about was they were saving precious lives, human lives.
Naeem Sheikh swam, along with five of his friends to save lives. Speaking to the media, he said that one of his friends lost his life as he had drunk too much water while swimming back and fro to save lives.
“We (his friends) just had one thing in our mind – to save as many as possible,” said Naeem.
Hear them this is #NaeemShaikh of #Gujarat👇
"I Knew how to Swim, I had Two Friends, they also Knew how to Swim. We had only One thing in our Mind which should Save the other. Together we saved 50 to 60 men. We Totaled Six Men went to Save others & One Died"#MorbiBridgeCollapse pic.twitter.com/nTZOUOvqig
— Hate Detector 🔍 (@HateDetectors) November 1, 2022
As the 150-year-old bridge cables collapsed, Taufeeq Bhai and Hussain Pathan saw many hanging onto the suspension while others were crying for help as they struggled to float.
While Hussain Pathan rescued 35 lives to the hospital, Taufiq, an expert swimmer, swam 50 lives to safety.
According to The Quint, ambulance driver Hussain helped carry several people to the civil hospital, despite his own cousin perishing in the tragedy. Milan Prakashbhai, a local helped carry the injured and dead to the hospital all night. Haseena, a social worker at the civic hospital helped identified bodies by cleaning the blood stains. Ravi and his friends provided food and water to the injured.
(4/4) Ravi and his friends in association with an NGO have been providing food and water all night to the rescue workers and families at the accident site and the hospital.@TheQuint @QuintHindi pic.twitter.com/i1InJ2n7vV
— Eshwar (@hey_eshwar) October 31, 2022
Twitter reacts
The Twitter world has not stopped praising the efforts of these brave men and women while questioning those who have always spoken against the Muslim community.
Two Heroes where #HussainPathan transferred 50 lives to the Hospital & #TaufiqBhai an expert Swimmer Swam & saved 35 lives at #MorbiBridgeCollapse!
This is the befitting Reply to Merchants of Hate! Humanity Transcends all Religions.#Gujrat #GujaratBridgeCollapse #MorbiBridge pic.twitter.com/h4BdJvMIMy
— Hate Detector 🔍 (@HateDetectors) November 1, 2022
#HussainPathan and #TaufiqBhai The Two Heroes where Hussain Pathan transferred 35 lives to the Hospital 🏥 and Taufiq an expert Swimmer Swam and saved 50 lives at #MachhuBridgeColapse #Morbi! This is the befitting Reply to Merchants of Hate! #Humanity Transcends all Religions pic.twitter.com/sjYBgmpC79
— zafar sareshwala 🇮🇳 (@zafarsareshwala) October 31, 2022
"Two angels! Taufeeq bhai & Hussain Pathan! While Taufeeq took 35 persons to hospital, swimmer Hussain Pathan saved 50 lives. The newspapers of #Gujarat are glorifying their heroism & others too.Will those who spread hatred against their society (#Muslims) get rid of their habit? https://t.co/Q5bhim1JVZ
— Mohammed Javed (@JavedJaved48) October 31, 2022
મોરબીના હુસેન પઠાણ નામના મુસ્લિમ યુવકે પાણી માં કૂદી ને 50 જેટલા લોકો ને જીવતા બચાવ્યા
માણસ તો બધાં સરખા જ હોય છે પરંતુ હિંદુ મુસ્લિમ નુ ભુત લોકોને નેતાઓએ વળગાડ્યુ છે.
માણસ હિંદુ હોય કે મુસ્લિમ એનો પહેલો ધર્મ માણસાઈનો છે.#hussainpathan #MorbiBridgeCollapse pic.twitter.com/efTmGYmi1y— Soni Mit (@SoniMit9) October 31, 2022
Two Angels.
Taufeeq Bhai and Hussain Pathan swam into Machhu river and saved scores of lives after Morbi bridge collapse.
This is real Gujarat ! https://t.co/oI26D6BO9U— Ashok Singh Garcha (@AshokSGarcha) October 31, 2022
Hats Off to the selfless, life-saving efforts of Sri.Taufiq & Sri.Hussain Pathan.
Please don't belittle their humanitarian contribution, by appealing to the hatehmongers.
No matter what you say, People will see what they want to see.
🙏🏽— Ram G 🙏🏼 (@manasameeram) November 1, 2022
A Muslim youth named Mahebub Hussain Pathan of Morbi jumped into the water without caring for his life and saved people alive, Salute to the humanity of Hussain Mahebub Pathan who saved the lives of more than 50 people 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/ihcRsV0FOZ
— Imransha Bhati عمران بھٹی (@IMRANBHATI82) October 31, 2022
Police on Monday arrested nine persons, including four from the Oreva group that was managing the suspension bridge, and filed a case against firms tasked with the maintenance and operation of the British-era structure.
Video footage emerged of the moments before Sunday evening’s deadly collapse, showing the bridge snapping in a few seconds, taking down scores of visitors seen walking on the swaying structure which had reopened six days ago after extensive repair but sans a fitness certificate.
Courtesy: siasat.com
