Kolkata flyover collapse `a tragedy`, one must provide whatever help one can: Rahul Gandhi

Pic courtesy: ANI

Kolkata: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday visited the site of flyover collapse in Kolkata.

He also visited the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital to meet the injured.

The Congress leader, however, refrained from giving a "political statement" and said he had come here just to meet the injured.

"It's a tragedy, in this situation one must provide whatever help one can," added Rahul Gandhi.

I am here in Kolkata to support those who have been injured in this tragedy. I have come here to give whatever little support I can

— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) April 2, 2016

मैं यहाँ दुःख में आया हूँ, जो hospital में injured हैं उनसे मिलने आया हूँ, तो मैं
इस समय राजनीति की बात नहीं करना चाहता — Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) April 2, 2016

Congress VP Rahul Gandhi in Kolkata to meet the people injured in the flyover collapse tragedy pic.twitter.com/voCHEtgiXd — INC India (@INCIndia) April 2, 2016

Meanwhile, the toll in Kolkata's worst flyover tragedy rose to 24 on Friday. Among the dead were three women while one body was too mutilated to ascertain the gender.

Going into the reasons for the flyover crash, a government statement said: "It is apprehended that one cantilever pier no 40 has shifted due to which two spans covering three piers were affected."

Meanwhile, the police filed murder charges against top officials of the joint venture company, Hyderabad-based IVRCL Infrastructure, which was executing the flyover project and detained at least 10 of its employees.

A 23-member special investigation team (SIT) has been set up to probe the disaster. A police team reached the company headquarters in Hyderabad to question its officials.

Army teams which had been carrying out rescue operations have returned to the barracks.

With the ruling Trinamool Congress facing flak, it field its local MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay, who argued the project was flawed since its inception during the Left Front's tenure but could not be discarded or remodelled due to financial implications.

The Bharatiya Janata Party sought a CBI probe, calling the incident an "act of fraud protected by the West Bengal government".