Mahad bridge collapse: 3 bodies found; search operation on
Mahad/Mumbai (Maharashtra), August 4
Three bodies were on Thursday recovered from the swollen Savitri River after two state-run buses and some other vehicles got washed away following the collapse of a British-era bridge in Raigad district, even as rescue workers lowered a 300-kg magnet to trace the missing vehicles.
Navy and Coast Guard personnel have stepped up efforts to trace those missing after the old bridge collapsed on the Mumbai-Goa highway near Mahad, about 170 km from Mumbai, in Raigad district late on Tuesday. Twenty-two persons were travelling in the two buses.
“Three bodies have been recovered. One body, which is of a man, is believed to be that of a driver of one of the buses, while the second body is of a woman. These two bodies are of victims of yesterday’s incident,” Raigad’s Additional Superintendent of Police Sanjay Patil said.
(Follow ; and )
He said another body has also been recovered, but it is yet to be confirmed if it is of a victim of the bridge collapse mishap.
The bodies were fished out of the river at about 50-60 km from the mishap site, he said.
There were reports yesterday that two bodies were recovered during search. However, the district police had later clarified that no bodies were found till last night.
Early on Thursday morning, a 300-kg magnet was lowered with the help of a crane in the river to trace the missing buses.
Something has got stuck to the magnet and efforts are on to pull it out of the river, a local official said.
Navy divers resumed search operations early today, while a Chetak helicopter of the Coast Guard also started sortie of the affected area, a Defence spokesperson said.
Twenty-eight Marine Commandos, over 100 jawans from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and 25 personnel from the Coast Guard were pressed into search and rescue operation yesterday.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, accompanied by PWD Minister Chnadrakant Patil and Opposition leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil of the Congress, yesterday took an aerial survey of the area.
According to district officials, one of the buses was proceeding to Mumbai from Jaigad in Raigad, and the other was on its way to Borivali (Mumbai) from Rajapur.
