World

Divers searched for more bodies on Tuesday after the collapse of a recently renovated suspension bridge killed 134 people in western India, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi preparing to visit the disaster site.

Questions also grew about the possible cause of the catastrophe at Morbi, in Modi’s home state of Gujarat, on Sunday.

Nine people have been arrested on homicide charges over the collapse of the 150-year-old structure.

The pedestrian bridge was packed with people celebrating the final day of the Diwali holidays. Forty-seven children were among those killed, with a previous overall toll of 137 revised downwards.

Horrific CCTV footage showed the rickety structure, a popular tourist spot, packed with people and then suddenly giving way as cables snapped.

Several hundred fell into the river, while others clung desperately to the twisted remains of the bridge screaming in the dark for help.

“I heard screams and a loud thud and then there was silence. Then slowly cries and screams,” survivor Madhvi Ben, 30, told AFP.

Ben said one of her legs was tangled in “a steel rope”, leaving her almost entirely submerged and struggling to break free.

“I somehow blocked my nose and pulled myself up and released my leg from the wire. I grabbed another wire and climbed the remains of the bridge,” she said.

Morbi businessman Rafiq Gaffar, whose two nephews aged 12 and 21 died, described the scene as “mayhem”.

“People were crying and wailing. It was a scene from doomsday,” Gaffar, 45, said. 

“There were bodies floating on the water everywhere and people trapped on the bridge who were frantically calling for help.”

– ‘Apprehension’ –

There were no further reports of missing people on Tuesday.

Rescuers in inflatable boats drove in circles in an attempt to bring up any objects from the bottom of the river. 

“We have not called off the search operation yet as there is always this apprehension there could be victims from outside whose kin are not aware of their whereabouts and haven’t contacted us yet,” said Rahul Tripathi of the Morbi police force.

Workers also picked up plastic rubbish from the river banks and were reportedly painting a hospital that Modi was due to visit.

The bridge renovations were reportedly carried out by local firm Oreva, whose experience was limited to clocks, e-bikes and other products.

The company could not be reached immediately for comment.

Jaysukh Patel, chairman of Ajanta Manufacturing, part of Oreva, had cut a ribbon to reopen the bridge on October 26 and said then the span would last 15 more years.

But Sandeepsinh Jhala, Morbi municipality’s chief officer, said on Monday the bridge had not been issued a safety certificate.

Police arrested nine people on charges of culpable homicide on Monday, just as authorities announced an inquiry.

They included two Oreva managers, two sub-contractors and two ticket collectors accused of selling too many passes, which caused the bridge to be overloaded.

Three security guards were also arrested for failing to manage the crowd at the bridge, senior police official Ashok Yadav told reporters on Monday.

“As and when the investigation progresses, names of others associated with the Oreva Group will also be booked,” Yadav said.

He said a team had been formed to investigate aspects of the maintenance and structural safety of the bridge.

Textile trader Puneet Pitroda, 35, told AFP at Morbi’s crematorium on Monday that the bodies of his brother and sister-in-law had been recovered from the river. 

“The authorities are fully responsible for the tragedy. They allowed hundreds to gather on the bridge when it had a capacity to hold just a small number,” he said.

“We will never forget this night.”

Danes were voting on Tuesday in what promises to be a tight election in which the balance of power could be tipped by which side of the political divide manages to woo the middle ground.

The election was triggered by the “mink crisis” that has embroiled Denmark since the government decided in November 2020 to cull the country’s roughly 15 million minks over fears of a mutated strain of the novel coronavirus.

The decision turned out to be illegal, however, and a party propping up the minority Social Democrats government threatened to topple it unless it called elections to regain the confidence of voters.

Grey skies covered the capital as voting stations opened at 8:00 am (0700 GMT). They are scheduled to close at 8:00 pm and the first results are expected around 9:30 pm.

“Climate issues and psychiatry (mental health issues), but mostly climate, are the reasons behind my vote,” 46-year-old Lone Kiitgaard told AFP after casting her ballot in central Copenhagen, without disclosing who she voted for.

The latest polls give the left-wing “red bloc”, led by incumbent Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s Social Democrats, 49.1 percent against 42.4 percent for the “blues”, an informal liberal and conservative alliance, supported by three populist parties.

Frederiksen got her vote in early at Hareskovhallen, a badminton centre turned voting booth northwest of Copenhagen. 

“This election could be really close, and there is a risk that there will be a blue government after today,” she said.

After a campaign dominated by climate concerns, inflation and healthcare, almost a quarter of voters were still undecided heading into election day, according to polls.

“There is a fairly high degree of volatility with Danish voters, about 40 percent change parties,” Rune Stubager, a professor of political science at Aarhus University, told AFP.

– ‘Moving to the middle’ –

With neither bloc likely to gain an outright majority, they will be unable to govern without the help of the Moderates, a centrist party founded this year by two-time prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, who is polling at 9.3 to 10 percent.

“That’s the most interesting part. If there is no majority, as seems to be the case, the Moderates are required to form a government,” said Stubager.

Ronja Gourlay, a 32-year-old social worker, said the fact that both sides were seeking favour with the Moderates made the decision harder.

“It was difficult to make a choice. I feel the parties are moving to the middle,” she told AFP after casting her vote.

Both the left and the right have made repeated appeals to Lokke Rasmussen, who has campaigned on reforming the healthcare system.

Frederiksen has floated the idea of a coalition government, led by herself, and has said she is also willing to discuss healthcare reforms.

Liberal Party leader Jakob Ellemann-Jensen has called for Lokke Rasmussen to align with his former party colleagues on the right.

First-time voter Antesa Jensen told AFP she was still hesitant.

“I don’t know yet who I’m voting for,” Jensen said.

The 40-year-old American has just obtained Danish citizenship after what she described as an exhausting process, highlighting the Scandinavian country’s restrictive policy towards foreigners.

– ‘Zero refugee’ –

Protective of the prosperity and social cohesion of the Nordic welfare state, Denmark championed ever stricter migration policies for over 20 years.

Advocating a “zero refugee” policy, the sitting Social Democrats government is working on setting up a centre to house asylum seekers in Rwanda while their applications are processed.

As most parties back the restrictive policies the issue is rarely up for debate.

Climate, on the other hand, is of great concern to Denmark’s 5.9 million inhabitants.

On Sunday, some 50,000 people, including the prime minister, gathered for the “People’s Climate March” in Copenhagen.

The left has promised a biodiversity law and the government intends to introduce a carbon tax on agriculture, a measure supported by most other parties.

On the right, the Liberal Party is betting on the development of green solutions, while the far-right “New Right” is open to the construction of nuclear power plants, of which there are none in Denmark.

In total, no fewer than 14 parties are in the running for the 179 seats in parliament.

Four seats are reserved for the overseas autonomous territories: Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

Voter turnout is traditionally high in Denmark. In the 2019 election, 84.6 percent of some 4.2 million eligible voters cast a ballot.

After South Korean officials concede that there were errors in crowd control on Halloween, AFP uses official data, media reports and eyewitness testimony to examine the timeline of the disaster that left 156 people dead.

– The plan –

On October 27, two days before, police estimate 100,000 people will attend the Halloween event in Seoul’s Itaewon nightlife district. They announce plans to deploy 200 officers.

As the party is not an “official” event, authorities do not plan to deploy stewards to handle the crowd.

– Early warnings –

By mid-afternoon on October 29, tens of thousands of people, many in Halloween costumes, are flooding into Itaewon’s narrow streets.

By 8:30 pm (1130 GMT) the alleyway at the epicentre of the crush is packed. Some partygoers are already sustaining injuries due to the crowd density.

“I notified the police but nobody showed up,” a nightclub worker told local media, saying they twice spoke to officers on the phone before the disaster.

At 9:16 pm a livestreamer goes to a police station about 10 meters from the alley, warning that the crowd is dangerously dense.

Police ignored her, she says in a stream that she later deletes.

National police chief Yoon Hee-keun admitted Tuesday that police had received “multiple reports” urgently indicating danger in the area, but handled the information in an “insufficient” way.

– Emergency calls –

At 10 pm, people at the top of the sloping alleyway next to the Hamilton Hotel start falling over, eyewitnesses say.

People at the bottom of the slope cannot exit due to crowds coming the other direction — out of Itaewon subway station exits 1 and 2 and out of the Hamilton Hotel main entrance.

People fell “like dominoes”, pushing into those in front of them who are immediately trapped, trampled and crushed. 

Between 10:15 pm and 10:22 pm the Yongsan Fire Station starts receiving multiple calls about a “crush accident” or stampede. They dispatch first responders between 10:15 and 10:27 pm.

Calls from people reporting difficulty breathing keep coming in — more than 81 requests for help by 10:43 pm, at which point authorities declare a “first-stage emergency response order”.

Emergency responders reach the scene and start performing emergency CPR on victims in the streets, but are quickly overwhelmed, asking members of the public to assist.

At 11:13 pm, a second-stage order is issued. It is upgraded to a third-stage order at 11:50 pm.

President Yoon Suk-yeol orders officials to urgently dispatch disaster medical assistance teams.

– Pile of bodies –

The president then oversees a meeting of the central disaster management team.

At the scene, emergency workers and bystanders struggle to drag victims out of the crush of bodies in the alleyway.

“We were pulling them out but we couldn’t because all these people were jam-packed and that creates a lot of weight,” Jarmil Taylor, who was caught in the crush at the top of the alley, told AFP.

Emergency workers did not manage to get everyone out of the crush until well after midnight.

“It was a long time for people stuck in there not to breathe,” Dane Beathard, a witness, told AFP.

– Clear the area –

Police are attempting to move people away from the scene, but the crowd is too dense and does not easily disperse.

At 1 am, police order businesses in the area to close.

By this point, emergency workers have pulled scores of people out of the crush and, with the help of passersby, are desperately trying to revive them. Other partygoers — seemingly oblivious to the unfolding disaster — continue celebrations nearby.

“There were more than 50 people lying down, but I couldn’t look at them because the scene was appalling,” an eyewitness surnamed Choi said, adding that barely anyone she helped was successfully revived.

Around 2 am, President Yoon bans anyone except officials and medical workers from entering Itaewon.

– Death toll leaps –

Around 3 am, the fire department says 120 people have died and warn the toll will rise as many of those rescued are in critical condition.

The Itaewon subway station quickly becomes congested as people try to leave. The city deploys extra buses at 3:50 am to help.

At 4 am, the fire department says 146 people have been killed and 150 more injured.

There are still partygoers trapped in the area. The city sends additional subway cars to Itaewon station at 5 am.

– Should not have happened –

At 9:45 am Sunday, President Yoon addresses the nation in a televised speech, saying the disaster “should not have happened” and vows a full investigation.

As of November 1, the death toll stands at 156, mostly young women, with scores more injured, some still in critical condition.

It is one of the worst-ever disasters in South Korean history. 

Pope Francis will become the first pontiff in history to visit Bahrain, in a trip this week that is hoped will cement ties with Islam but is also marked by accusations of human rights abuses in the Gulf state.

The Thursday-to-Sunday visit — the 39th international trip of Francis’ papacy — comes three years after his historic trip to the United Arab Emirates in 2019, where he signed a Muslim-Christian manifesto for peace.

But some human rights groups now hope Francis will press Bahrain’s Sunni leader, King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, to halt repression against Shiite Muslims, though the rights record of neighbour Qatar has drawn more attention in recent months ahead of the World Cup.

The Argentine pontiff, 85, has made outreach to Muslim communities a priority during his papacy, visiting Middle Eastern countries including Egypt in 2017 and Iraq last year while pledging interfaith dialogue with leading Muslim clerics.

On Friday, Francis plans to meet with Sunni Islam’s highest authority, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Cairo’s prestigious Al-Azhar mosque and centre of Islamic learning, at Sakhir Palace in the centre of the country.  

The two religious leaders signed a joint document in Abu Dhabi in February 2019 pledging interfaith co-existence between Christians and Muslims. That visit marked the first ever by a pope to the Gulf region, where Islam was born. 

Francis will also meet with the Abu Dhabi-based Muslim Council of Elders for an “East and West” forum, with Muslim communities in the West, humanitarian crises, climate issues and Muslim-Christian relations on the agenda. 

– Religious tolerance? –

Also on Friday, the leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics — expected to be confined to a wheelchair during his trip due to persistent knee pain — will lead an ecumenical prayer in Awali’s cavernous Our Lady of Arabia Cathedral, which opened its doors December.

The cathedral that seats over 2,000 people was built to serve Bahrain’s approximately 80,000 Catholics, mainly workers from southern Asia, including India and the Philippines.

Bahrain, like the United Arab Emirates, is considered a relatively more tolerant Arab nation, in comparison with ultra-conservative Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia — repeatedly cited by human rights groups for abuses — whose absolute monarchy does not recognise freedom of religion and which bans all non-Muslim places of worship.

Still, NGOs continue to cite discrimination, repression and harassment in Bahrain by the Sunni elite against Shiites, crackdowns on opposition figures and activists, and other abuses. 

“Pope Francis should heed his own call and publicly demand that Bahrain halt all executions, abolish the death penalty, and seriously investigate torture allegations and violations of the right to a fair trial,” said a joint statement by Human Rights Watch and eight other groups released on Tuesday.

“He should also urge Bahraini officials to issue a decree reiterating the prohibition in Bahrain’s constitution and laws of all forms of torture and ill-treatment,” the groups said.

“In addition, Pope Francis should press King Hamad to free everyone imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of association, peaceful assembly, and expression, including rights defenders, opposition activists, and journalists. He should press Bahraini authorities to end abuses against migrant workers.

“Prominent Bahraini opposition leaders have languished in prison for more than a decade for their roles in the 2011 pro-democracy protests,” the statement said.

Bahrain’s annual Formula One race has also frequently attracted criticism over the country’s human rights record. In 2011, the Grand Prix was cancelled amid a harsh crackdown in the wake of the protests. 

Looming over Francis’ visit is the World Cup later this month in nearby Qatar, which has shone a spotlight on its human rights record, particularly treatment of its low-income migrant workers, women and the LBGTQ community.

– Flocking to mass –

On Saturday, the pope will celebrate a mass in a stadium in Bahrain’s second-largest city Riffa before an expected 28,000 faithful, according to priest Charbel Fayad.

“We are happy to see many Christians from the region,” he told AFP, saying he expected worshippers from other Gulf countries.

The pope — who concludes his trip Sunday in Manama leading a prayer meeting with Catholic clergy — has visited various Muslim-majority countries during his pontificate, including Jordan, Turkey, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Egypt, Bangladesh, Morocco, Iraq and most recently in September, Kazakhstan.

Israelis were voting Tuesday in their fifth election in less than four years, with the hawkish ex-premier Benjamin Netanyahu campaigning for a comeback alongside far-right allies.

The latest ballot follows the collapse of the so-called “change” coalition, which united eight disparate parties who succeeded in ousting Netanyahu last year after a record run as prime minister, but ultimately failed to bring political stability.

Israelis have until 2000 GMT to cast their ballot, after which complex bargaining to build a coalition will get underway.

Caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid is seeking to hold onto power, with his centrist Yesh Atid party lagging slightly behind Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud in the polls.

Lapid, a former TV anchor, on Tuesday urged the electorate to cast their ballot.

“Go and vote today for the future of our children, for the future of our country. Vote well!” he said at a Tel Aviv polling station.

In a political system where a shift in just one of the 120 Knesset seats up for grabs could cement a ruling coalition — or lead to further deadlock and possible new elections — the outcome remains uncertain once more.

At a polling station in Tel Aviv, left-wing voter Shai Barkan lamented the “terrible” impasse of recent years.

“I’m doing my civic duty, and I hope that these elections will be the last for the next four years,” the 66-year-old designer told AFP.

– Tight race –

Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption and breach of trust, has addressed party faithful from a bulletproof campaign bus, seeking to convince them that only he can keep the country safe.

“I ask you to go to all of your friends, all of your neighbours, all of your relatives, and tell them that nobody stays home,” the 73-year-old known as Bibi urged supporters at a recent rally.

Whoever is tapped to form a government will need the backing of multiple smaller parties to stand a chance of clinching the 61 seats necessary for a majority.

The extreme-right leader Itamar Ben-Gvir may be key to helping Netanyahu return to the premiership, as his Religious Zionism bloc has gained momentum in recent weeks and could come third in the election.

Ben-Gvir, who has faced dozens of charges of hate speech against Arabs, vowed Tuesday there will be a “full right-wing government” led by Netanyahu.

One of Ben-Gvir’s supporters, 40-year-old Jonathan Kern, said the politician “focuses on the things important to me” such as his Jewish identity and security.

“(But) I think that nothing will change, it’s going to be the same dead heat and the most intelligent will form a government,” Kern said in Tel Aviv.

The election is being held against a backdrop of soaring violence across Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

At least 29 Palestinians and three Israelis were killed across the two territories in October, according to an AFP tally. 

The Israeli military said it would shut checkpoints leading to the West Bank and close the crossing with the blockaded Gaza Strip throughout election day.

While many candidates have cited security as a concern, none have campaigned on a platform of reviving moribund peace talks with the Palestinians.

– Divisions and despondency –

The cost of living has been a hot issue this election as Israelis, having long endured high prices, are feeling the pinch even more amid global economic turmoil linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But in repeated rounds of elections since April 2019, few voters have significantly shifted their allegiances.

The pacts agreed and broken by their political leaders have, however, changed over time and shaped short-lived governments.

Lapid was the architect of the last coalition, which for the first time brought an independent Arab party into the fold and included others from the right and left.

That unlikely alliance was made possible after Mansour Abbas pulled his Raam party from a united slate with other Arab-led parties, paving the way for him to join the coalition.

Recent months have seen further divisions within the Arab bloc, which is running on three separate lists in a move expected to weaken the minority’s representation in parliament.

Such a scenario has led to despondency among many Arab-Israelis — who make up around 20 percent of the population — potentially denting their turnout.

“We need to work harder, first of all, to convince people to go out and vote,” Aida Touma-Suleiman, from the Hadash-Taal alliance, told AFP.

“It’s one frustration on top of another.”

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