Silchar, Oct 5 (IANS): At least 24 school students were injured, three of them seriously, after a hanging bridge collapsed in southern Assams Karimganj district when the students were on their way home after school, officials said on Tuesday.

A district administration official said that the four-year-old hanging bridge over river Singla collapsed at Cheragi area when around 100 girls and boys of Cheragi Vidyapith High School were crossing it on Monday afternoon, with all of them falling into the river.

On hearing the noise, local people jumped into the river and rescued them.

Three critically injured students have been shifted to the hospital after a doctor, staying nearby, rushed to the spot and started treatment on the bank of the river.

Villagers said that a major tragedy was averted as there was not much water in the small river.

Students and villagers regularly used this bridge to reach their destinations as it is the only bridge in the area.

With the collapse of the bridge, many villages under the Ratabari Assembly constituency have now been cut off.