''Firstly, we express our deepest condolences for the incident. It has been a horrific tragedy. The death toll is increasing every hour. The state government's immediate priority should be to save as many lives as possible. But at the same time, the Gujarat government is answerable to various questions arising from this tragedy.

''Without safety measures, how was the bridge opened in the first place? You have a certain number of people who could stand on the bridge. Why was that limit crossed? Who are the people responsible for this tragedy? The government must be made accountable for this monumental tragedy,'' Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury told reporters on the sidelines of the party's three-day Central Committee meeting here.

Earlier, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge expressed a guarded reaction to the issue.

''We are very pained to know about what has happened and express our condolences. The victims' families must be fully compensated at the earliest. We demand an independent inquiry into the incident by a Supreme Court or a high court judge. We do not want to politicise the matter any further, so will not blame anyone at this stage,'' Kharge told reporters at the Congress headquarters here.