On Wednesday, four under-repair ships -- tied to the bars at ABG Shipyard --- had accidentally drifted towards the bridge due to high tide. The big vessel Lanalco hit the bridge during early hours on Wednesday.

Three other vessels tied to the vessel followed it and collided with one another. The collision damaged nearly a 100-metre portion of the bridge.

According to sources, there were around five people onboard when the incident occurred. They immediately jumped into the river and saved themselves. The machinery staff and other experts of the ABG Shipyard rushed to the spot with two water cranes and pulled back the four vessels to the jetties.

It is to be noted that the bridge connects Magdalla area to the big industries like ESSAR, L&T, Reliance, etc. Many trucks were not allowed to pass through the bridge throughout the day due to the accident.

A high-level team of R&B department from Gandhinagar comprising four officials arrived in Surat on Thursday morning. The team inspected the damaged portion of the bridge and even the girder and pillar portion of the bridge.

The officials found that the girder portion and the pillars were not damaged but the parapet wall of the bridge and walkway were damaged. The team later handed its report to the district collector and submitted that heavy vehicles can be allowed to ply on the bridge.

Surat District Collector Dilip Rawal said, "The Maritime Board officials, R & B department and the technocrats from Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology were looking into the incident

and will prepare separate reports. We have only got the report from R&B officials and they have told us that the heavy vehicles can ply and it is not dangerous.