Devbhumi Dwarka, Gujarat:

The bodies of four members of a family, including a couple and their young son and daughter, were found lying roadside in a village in Devbhumi Dwarka district of Gujarat on Wednesday and prima facie it seems to be a case of suicide, police said.

Preliminary investigation suggests Ashok Dhuva, his wife Liluben, their son Jignesh and daughter Kinjal consumed poison in a suicide pact.

Police found bottles of suspected poisonous liquid lying near their bodies, an official said.

“The couple was in their 40s while their son and daughter are 18-20 years old. The bodies were found lying in a field in Dharagar village in the evening,” said Bhanvad police sub-inspector MR Savseta.

The family travelled 70 km on two-wheelers from their home in Jamnagar city. Police also found 2 two-wheelers parked nearby, the official said.

Further investigation is underway.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A portion of an under-construction bridge collapsed in Gujarat’s Palanpur on October 23, 2023. Video grab: Twitter/@ANI 

One person was killed after a portion of an under-construction bridge collapsed in Palanpur town in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district on Monday and a search and rescue operation at the site was underway, officials said.

Six concrete girders or slabs, which were recently installed on the pillars of the under-construction bridge near RTO check post, collapsed in the afternoon, said Banaskantha Collector Varunkumar Baranwal.

A CCTV footage of the incident showed a person abandoning his autorickshaw after realising some portion of the bridge was about to give way and trying to run to safety but in vain as he got crushed under huge concrete slabs.

Those at the site claimed there are two more persons in the debris as a tractor was also crushed along with the autorickshaw.

“This is a railway overbridge connecting Ambaji with Palanpur. After the six girders collapsed, we started a search and rescue operation. So far, one body has been recovered. There is no point in assuming how many more are still trapped. Our work to remove the debris is on,” Collector Baranwal said.

Though the construction of the bridge has been going on since some time, the girders that collapsed were launched on the pillars a week back but had not been tied to the structure as yet, he added.