Bridge-collapse rescuers battle darkness, current, isolation
KATHMANDU, Nepal (CNN) -- Rescuers were searching through the night Tuesday for hundreds of people who fell into a river after a footbridge collapsed during a religious festival in Nepal.
"The rescuers have not given up yet. They're still there, and they're still looking for bodies," journalist Manesh Shrestha told CNN from Nepal's capital, Kathmandu.
The suspension bridge in remote Surkhet collapsed with as many as 1,000 Hindu pilgrims on it, police said.
While many swam to safety, about 200 people who were on the bridge were missing, police said. Only 15 bodies had been recovered so far.
Rescuers took 20 women and 12 men to a hospital, police added.
While initial reports suggested the river's currents were swift, photographs of the scene sent to CNN showed a relatively slow-flowing river.
However, Shrestha said the current is more swift below that point.
The pictures also showed the bridge was just a few yards above the water, contrary to earlier reports that it spanned a gorge with the river as far as 100 feet below.
"The bridge collapsed because there were hundreds of people on it," said Nepalese police officer Nibandha Budha. "They had gone to the river for a three-day Hindu religious festival on the occasion of full moon."
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