NEW DELHI, Oct 31 (AFP) - Military teams were hunting Monday for people missing after a century-old cable suspension bridge collapsed into a river Sunday in the western Indian state of Gujarat, sending hundreds plunging into the water and killing at least 132 in one of the worst accidents in the country in the past decade.

At least 177 survivors were pulled from the river and teams from the army, navy and air force were searching for others still missing, said Jigar Khunt, an information department official in Gujarat said.

Live video reports showed hundreds of others desperately clinging to the broken structure and trying to make their way to safety, as crowds onshore shouted or swam to try to rescue who had fallen in.

Authorities said the 19th-century, colonial-era pedestrian bridge over the Machchu river in the state's Morbi district collapsed because it could not handle the weight of the large crowd, as the Hindu festival season drew hundreds of sightseers to the recently opened tourist attraction.

The 232-metre-long bridge had been closed for repairs for almost six months and had reopened just four days earlier for the Gujarati New Year. Visuals from the disaster site showed the bridge split in the middle and the metal carriageway hanging down, its metal cables snapped in places.

State minister Harsh Sanghvi told reporters that 132 people were confirmed dead and many were admitted to hospitals in critical condition. Sanghvi said emergency responders and rescuers worked overnight to search for the survivors. Most of the victims were teens, women and older people, he said.

It was not immediately clear exactly how many people were on the bridge when it collapsed but survivors said it was so densely packed that the crowd was unable to move to safety when the cable strings began to snap.