A total of 24 bodies were recovered over the past three days from the Savitri river after multiple vehicles fell into it due to a broken bridge on the Mumbai-Goa highway.
Two buses, with a total of 22 passengers onboard and eight people travelling in a private Chevrolet Tavera have gone missing after an old bridge over the Savitri river on the Mumbai-Goa highway collapsed in the wee hours of Tuesday night. Over ten vehicles were also washed away after the bridge collapsed.
As search operations resumed on Friday morning, more bodies were recovered from the river. The death toll now stands at 14.
The body of the driver of one of missing buses was recovered from Anjarle area and that of a woman was recovered near Harihareshwar on Thursday. Two more bodies were recovered on Wednesday.
The collapse initially went unreported as it happened in the dead of the night, leading to vehicles falling directly into the swollen river, according to IBN Lokmat.
Multiple units of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been rushed to the region along with an Air Force helicopter. A total of 111 NDRF personnel with 12 boats and 11 divers have been deployed at the site of the collapse.
The region along the flow of the river – between Tasgaon and Ambet – will be searched by the NDRF teams.
Around 35 local divers and 7 rafters of a private club are assisting in the rescue operations, along with four helicopters deployed by the Indian Navy, the Indian Coast Guard and the Indian Air Force.
One Sea King 42C, an all-weather helicopter with a diving team, has been deployed by Indian Navy to find the missing vehicles. Another Sea King 42B helicopter was also diverted to the area.
Indian Cost Guard (ICG) launched Chetak Helicopter to carry out search operations for missing vehicles.
A team of doctors from central railways and rescue personnel have been sent to the Mahad bridge collapse site.
Two state transport buses with nine passengers each started from Chiplun and ran into the river because of the collapsed bridge. The buses were identified as follows:
- Borivli - Rajapur (MH 40 N 9739)
- Jaigad - Mumbai (MH 20 BL 1538)
An Unfortunate Incident: Rajnath Singh
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday informed the Lok Sabha that the two passenger buses and four other vehicles are feared to have been “swept away” following the collapse of a bridge in Maharashtra late on Tuesday.
This was an unfortunate incident. I would like to inform the members that last night at around 11.30 pm that the bridge over river Savitri near Mahad in Raigad district was swept away due to overflow of the river. I have spoken to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.Rajnath Singh
He also added that the state government officials have also reached the spot and are supervising the relief and rescue operations.
At this “hour of crisis”, the Centre will extend all cooperation and assistance to the state government, the minister added.
While the extent of casualties could not be assessed, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis tweeted the following.
Fadnavis also tweeted that the primary reason behind the collapse of the bridge, which was built during the British-rule, seems to be the increased pressure at the catchment area of river Savitri in Mahabaleshwar region.
Incessant rains continue to lash the coastal Konkan, northern and western Maharashtra for past five days, with at least 10 persons losing their lives in rain-related incidents in the past 24 hours.
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