The suspension bridge. Telegraph picture

Shillong, March 19: A magisterial inquiry has been ordered today into the collapse of a suspension bridge in East Garo Hills yesterday that resulted in injuries to many students and two US citizens.

The East Garo Hills deputy commissioner Vijay Mantri said over phone today that the senior extra assistant commissioner P.D. Sangma would conduct the inquiry into the collapse of the hanging bridge at Chichotcheng over the Didram river near Bajengdoba in East Garo Hills. He will find out the cause of the accident and fix responsibility.

According to the deputy commissioner, the bridge was constructed by the school managing committee of Riverside Adventist Academy School.

The East Garo Hills district administration will also ask the PWD to survey all such bridges constructed by private parties and assess their safety standards to avoid such incidents in future.

“In the context of the collapse of the hanging bridge, we need to look into the safety aspects of all similar bridges in the district,” the East Garo Hills deputy commissioner said.

According to official sources, the school managing committee sought no official permission from the PWD before constructing the suspension bridge.

Though the bridge can accommodate only 30 people at a time, there were as many as 70 people on the bridge when the accident took place, sources added.

As many as 39 students from the school and the two US citizens, identified as Marisa Staten and her husband Verbor Staten, were injured when the rope supporting the bridge snapped due to additional weight while they were crossing the river to the other side.

The students first gathered near the school on Sunday to bid farewell to the hostelites who had completed their SSLC examinations on Friday.

Of the 39 students injured, many were released from a hospital in Goalpara in Assam today.

According to the East Garo Hills district administration, there is also a need to look at other wooden and RCC bridges in the district to check whether they were fit enough to carry the vehicles as well as people.

The principal of the school, Malaki Rimsu, had admitted that there were many students who were crossing the hanging bridge and it collapsed because of the additional weight,

According to Rimsu, the bridge can accommodate only 30 people at a time and actually there were as many as 70 people crossing the bridge on Sunday.

NCP legislator John Manner Marak, who represents Bajengdoba, visited the site and assessed the situation today.

According to him, the hanging bridge was constructed only last year.