They had flocked to the newly reopened suspension bridge on a Sunday evening during India’s most festive season, buying a ticket costing the equivalent of about 20 cents or less to experience the sensation of swaying across the wide Machchhu River in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

在印度最盛大節日季的週日晚上，為體驗在印度西部古吉拉特邦浩蕩的默丘河上搖蕩的感覺，他們以相當於20美分或更少的價格購買門票，湧向了最近重新開放的弔橋。

The 755-foot-long pedestrian bridge, built during the Victorian era, had long been a tourist attraction, and it was packed with people as the sun set on Sunday and the intense heat eased. As countless others had done before them, some on the span spread their arms across its four-foot width, grabbing the green netting on either side and making the bridge shimmy from side to side.

這座人行橋建於維多利亞時代，長約230米，長久以來一直是旅遊景點。週日，太陽落山，酷暑消退時，橋上擠滿了人。就像之前無數人做過的那樣，一些人在約1.2米寬的橋面上伸開雙臂，抓住兩邊的綠網，讓橋左右搖擺。

Then, suddenly, the cables snapped, and the bridge spilled its human cargo into the river, like a fishing net releasing its catch. Once in the dark water, some tried to swim to the fallen structure and climb up its tangled netting. Others were swept away.

然後，突然之間，纜繩斷了，橋上承載的人都落入河中，就像拋灑捕獲物的漁網一樣。落入暗黑的深水之後，有人竭力游至倒塌的橋體，爬上纏結其上的網狀繩索。其他人則被沖走。

The regional police chief, Ashok Yadav, said Monday morning that at least 140 people had been killed, but later revised that number to 134. He gave no reason for the new number. Many of the victims were schoolchildren on vacation during the Diwali holiday and migrant workers celebrating a Hindu festival, leaving India to ask once again why its infrastructure keeps failing so calamitously.

該地區警察局長阿肖克·亞達夫週一上午表示，至少140人喪生，但後來將這一數字修正為134人。他沒有給出修改數字的原因。許多遇難者是排燈節放假的學生，以及慶祝印度教節日的外來務工者，這讓印度民眾再次發出質問，為何基礎設施不斷出現如此災難性的故障。

Mr. Yadav said that a police case had been filed, and that nine people — including two company managers, two ticket takers, two bridge repairmen and three security guards — had been arrested on charges of attempting to commit culpable homicide and of causing death by negligence.

亞達夫表示，警方已經立案調查，包括兩名企業經理、兩名檢票員、兩名橋樑修理工和三名保安在內的九人已被逮捕，罪名是企圖過失殺人罪和過失致死罪。

On Monday, platoons of disaster response workers and members of India’s armed forces combed the fast-moving river in small boats, paddling through the mangroves next to the riverbanks, searching for the missing. In the afternoon, Indian Navy rescue divers were still looking for victims 12 hours after the last body had been recovered.

週一，救災人員和印度武裝部隊乘坐小船，沿著河岸邊的紅樹林划行，在湍急的河水中搜尋失蹤者。到下午，在最後一具屍體被發現的12個小時後，印度海軍救援潛水員仍在尋找遇難者。

“The scene is rotating in my head, bodies lying here and there, being taken out, everyone shouting, ‘Save me, save me, save me,’” one survivor, Mahesh Bhai, told a TV reporter from his hospital bed. He was among the dozens of people who had been injured in the collapse but had survived; more than 180 people were rescued in all.

「當時的場景在我腦海中反覆浮現，到處都是被抬出來的人，所有人都在喊，『救救我，救救我，救救我，』」倖存者馬赫什·拜在病床上對電視記者說道。他是在坍塌中受傷但倖存下來的數十人之一；共有180多人獲救。

The colonial-era bridge is among a collection of attractions in the quaint town of Morbi, whose ceramic tile industry draws workers from across India. It was a favorite meeting place for young lovers to escape parents’ prying eyes, said Devyesh Pithva, who a decade ago met the woman who became his wife on the bridge. He had visited the structure on Friday, and, out of a sense of poignancy, returned to the site of the disaster on Monday.

在古樸的莫爾比鎮，這座殖民時代的橋樑是眾多景點之一，鎮上的瓷磚產業吸引了來自印度各地的工人。德維耶什·彼特瓦說，這座橋是年輕情侶躲避父母窺探的最佳約會地點，十年前，他就是在這座橋上遇見了自己後來的妻子。週五他曾來到這裡，出於傷感，他週一又返回了災難現場。

In March, the bridge’s operations were awarded to Ajanta Manufacturing, a local clock and electronics manufacturer.

今年3月，這座橋的運營權被授予一家當地鐘錶及電子產品製造商「阿旃陀製造」。

Ajanta’s founder, Odhavaji Patel, was known in India as the “father of wall clocks.” The company he ran before his death also makes light bulbs and toothpaste. What is unclear from business records is whether Ajanta had any experience operating bridges before taking over the one in Morbi.

阿旃陀的創始人奧達瓦吉·帕特爾在印度被譽為「掛鐘之父」。他生前經營的公司還生產燈泡和牙膏。從商業紀錄中無法明確的是，在接受莫爾比的這座橋之前，阿旃陀是否有任何橋樑運營經驗。

After winning the contract, Ajanta, which also goes by the name Oreva Group, managed seven months of repairs on the bridge, which had been in poor condition. The structure reopened four days before the disaster, timed to coincide with the Gujarati New Year, on Oct. 26.

在贏得項目合同後，阿旃陀（又名奧萊瓦集團）對這座狀況不佳的橋樑進行了七個月的維修。該橋樑在災難發生前四天重新開放，正好趕上10月26日的古吉拉特新年。

When Mr. Pithva visited the bridge on Friday, two days before the disaster, he said, there were as many as 500 people crowded onto it. He waited 20 minutes for a clearing to take a photograph with his family.

彼特瓦說，上週五——也就是災難發生的兩天前——他參觀這座橋時，有多達500人擠在橋上。他等了20分鐘才等到空位與家人合影。

“You could actually hear people breathing, it was so tight,” Mr. Pithva said. “I have an emotional bond with this bridge, and when I heard the news, I felt like I was going down with my family.”

「你都能聽到別人的呼吸聲，真的太擠了，」彼特瓦說。「我對這座橋很有感情，當我聽到新聞，感覺就像是自己和家人也掉下去了。」

On Monday, scrutiny turned to how Ajanta had won the contract, and to whether the company had ties to the Bharatiya Janata Party, or B.J.P., which has governed Gujarat for more than two decades and which also controls the national government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

週一，外界關注點轉向了阿旃陀為何能贏下合同，以及該公司是否與印度人民黨有關聯。該黨已統治古吉拉特邦20餘年，也控制著由總理莫迪領導的全國政府。

A municipal official told the Indian news media that the bridge had been opened without a “fitness certificate” or the authorities’ permission. Unaddressed was why the authorities did not shut down the bridge if it had been reopened without approval.

一名市政官員告訴印度媒體，這座橋是在沒有「合格認證」或當局許可的情況下開放的。懸而未決的問題是，如果橋是未經批准重新開放的，當局為何沒有關閉它。

Arjun Modhwadia, a member of the Congress party and a former opposition leader in Gujarat, said that B.J.P. leaders had announced the bridge’s opening as a “Diwali gift to the people of Morbi,” without ensuring its safety.

國民大會黨成員、古吉拉特邦前反對黨領袖阿瓊·莫德瓦迪亞表示，人民黨領導人宣布將這座橋的開放作為「獻給莫爾比人民的排燈節大禮」，但並未確保其安全。

Yamal Vyas, a spokesman for the B.J.P. in Gujarat, said that the national government had appointed a “high-powered committee” to investigate the disaster. Mr. Modi, who was campaigning in Gujarat, his home state, ahead of fiercely contested state assembly elections, canceled at least some of the rest of the week’s campaign events.

古吉拉特邦人民黨發言人亞馬爾·維亞斯表示，全國政府已經任命了一個「權限很大的委員會」來調查這場災難。在競爭激烈的議會選舉將要來臨之際，正在家鄉古吉拉特邦拉票的莫迪至少取消了本週剩餘的部分競選活動。

“Congress wants to ply politics in everything,” Mr. Vyas said.

「國民大會黨想把一切都扯上政治，」維亞斯說。

Ajanta blamed the victims. “Too many people in the midsection of the bridge were trying to sway it from one side to the other,” a newspaper, The Indian Express, quoted a company spokesman as saying. It was unclear why the company had allowed so many people on the bridge at once; Ajanta did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The New York Times.

阿旃陀將責任歸咎於受害者。一家名為《印度快報》的報紙援引該公司發言人的說法稱，「站在中間試圖搖動橋樑的人太多了。」不清楚該公司為何允許那麼多人同時上橋；阿旃陀沒有立即回應《紐約時報》的置評請求。

The company’s chairman, Jaysukh Patel, spoke at a news conference Monday.

該公司董事長傑蘇克·帕特爾週一在新聞發布會上進行了表態。

“This hanging bridge is a historical treasure of Morbi,” Mr. Patel said, adding that Ajanta had hired a subcontractor with experience repairing bridges to meet “technical specifications” and other requirements.

「這座弔橋是莫爾比的歷史瑰寶，」帕特爾說，並補充稱，為了滿足「技術規格」和其他要求，阿旃陀聘請了一家有修復橋樑經驗的分包商。

If history holds, it may be unlikely that any companies or municipal officials face serious consequences. Infrastructure failures caused by overcrowding are common in India and rarely result in accountability or change.

如果依照先例，所有企業或市政官員都不太可能面臨嚴重後果。擁擠造成的基礎設施故障在印度很常見，很少導致問責或變革。

Building contracts are often awarded to relatives or associates of political leaders, who can acquire necessary permissions but may not be competent builders. Planning is piecemeal. On-site supervision is weak. Safety measures are haphazard. And life, when it is lost, costs the government very little.

建築合同通常被授予政治領導人的親屬或夥伴，這些人能獲得必要的許可，但可能不是合格的承建商。建設規劃零散。現場監督薄弱。安全措施雜亂無章。即使出了人命，政府要付的代價也微乎其微。

When things go wrong, officials offer cash compensation. On Sunday, within hours of the disaster, Gujarat’s chief minister, Bhupendra Patel, announced payments of about $4,800 for each of the families of the dead and about $600 for the injured.

如果出現問題，官員們會提供現金補償。週日，在災難發生幾小時後，古吉拉特邦首席部長布彭德拉·帕特爾宣布向每位遇難者家屬支付約4800美元，向傷者支付600美元。

In India, hundreds of people have been killed over the past decade in infrastructure disasters.

在印度，過去十年裡有數以百計的人在基礎設施災難中喪生。

In 2013, after the police failed to control crowding on a bridge in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, one of its railings snapped, resulting in more than 100 deaths.

2013年，在印度中部中央邦的一座橋上，警方未能控制住擁擠的人群，導致一根欄杆斷裂，上百人死亡。

In 2014, an overpass that was under construction collapsed in Gujarat, killing at least 10 people. A police investigation found that both the design and the construction materials were faulty.

2014年，古吉拉特邦一座在建立交橋倒塌，造成至少10人死亡。警方調查發現，橋樑設計和建築用料都有問題。

In 2016, part of an unfinished overpass, in the works for over seven years in the eastern city of Kolkata, came crashing down on a busy street, killing more than two dozen people. Mr. Modi described that disaster, in an opposition-controlled state, as an “act of fraud” rather than an “act of God.”

2016年，東部城市加爾各答一座在建了七年多的未完工立交橋部分垮塌到一條繁忙的街道上，造成20多人死亡。莫迪稱，這場災難發生在由反對派控制的邦，原因是「造假」而非「天災」。

That same year, at least 42 people were killed in the collapse of a British-era bridge along a scenic landscape in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

同年，印度西部馬哈拉施特拉邦一座建於英屬時代的橋樑垮塌，造成至少42人死亡。

On Monday, Randeep Surjewala, a Congress party lawmaker, echoed Mr. Modi’s 2016 statement to turn it against him, calling the latest bridge collapse a “man-made tragedy.”

週一，印度國民大會黨議員蘭迪普·蘇爾傑瓦拉重複了莫迪2016年的聲明，稱此次橋樑垮塌是「人為的悲劇」。