India Footbridge Collapses, Over 30 Feared Drowned

Two bodies have been recovered and 30 other people were feared drowned after a footbridge spanning a river in northeast India collapsed, police said Sunday.

Police and paramilitary forces rescued at least 31 villagers from the river following Saturday's accident, senior police officer Kyle Ayasaid. One later died in a hospital.

One body was recovered overnight and another was found Sunday morning, Aya told The Associated Press.

Many of the people crossing the bridge in the town of Seppa when it collapsed were women and children, he said. It was the second deadly footbridge collapse in India in a week.

Army divers joined police and paramilitary soldiers to search for those missing and feared dead, Aya said, adding that the swift current was hindering rescue operations.

The bridge crosses the Kameng River in Arunachal Pradesh state. The region is nearly 370 miles (500 kilometers) north of Gauhati, the capital of Assam state.

On Oct. 22, a wooden footbridge collapsed in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal state, leaving 31 people dead. Villagers were hearing speeches from local officials on the bridge, which was built in 1942 and weakened by an earthquake in September.