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CCTV footage showed the structure in Gujarat’s western state swaying, with a few people apparently deliberately rocking it before it collapsed.
The walkway and one fence fell into the river, leaving the other side suspended in mid-air and hundreds of people in the water.
“I saw the bridge collapse before my eyes,” said one witness who worked all night on rescue efforts, without giving his name.
“It was traumatic when a woman showed me a photo of her daughter and asked if I had rescued her. I could not tell her that her daughter had died.”
Another witness named Supran said the bridge was “jam-packed”.
“The cables snapped and the bridge came down in a split second. People fell on each other and into the river,” he told local media.
News reports showed footage of people clinging onto the twisted remains of the bridge or trying to swim to safety in the dark.
Most Indians are unable to swim, and another Morbi resident, Ranjanbhai Patel, said he assisted in the rescue of those who had made it to the banks.
“As most of the people had fallen into the river, we were not able to save them,” he said. Senior police official Ashok Kumar Yadav said this morning that the death toll stood at 132.
Sources said that most of the victims were women and children. One local MP, Kalyanji Kundariya, told the media he had lost 12 family members in the accident, including five children.
