The search operation undertaken after the collapse of an overhead steel structure of an under-construction railway bridge at Sairang in Mizoram was called off on Friday following the recovery of the last body, taking the death toll to 23.

The search operation was called off after the company executing the Bairabi-Sairang BG project (ABCI Infrastructures Pvt Ltd) informed the administration that all bodies/injured persons in the mishap that took place at 9.55am on Wednesday were accounted for, an official said.

“We found the last body at 1.04am and we called off the search operation at 1.30pm after confirmation from the company ABCI that all bodies have been accounted for. Over 100 persons, mostly from the government, were involved in the search operation on Friday,” an official of the Aizawl District Disaster Management Authority told The Telegraph.

The official said the body of 49-year-old Sainul Haque was recovered on Friday.

“He was also from Malda district in Bengal. All 23 deceased are from Malda and the three injured from Calcutta. Haque’s body will be sent to Malda after post-mortem by tonight,” the official said.

Sources said one family had lost four of its members in the mishap, which has prompted calls for a safety audit of the entire stretch from Bairabi to Sairang given the terrain, soil and weather condition before the project is commissioned.

The overhead structure fell from a height of about 60 metres, an office-bearer of the Central Young Mizo Association had told The Telegraph on Thursday.