Braving inclement weather, strong water currents and the presence of crocodiles, the Navy and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel on Thursday recovered a major portion of the wreckage of the one of the two State transport buses that had plunged into the swollen Savithri river after a British era bridge collapsed at Mahad in Raigad district on August 2.
Having spotted the two portions of a large wreckage — apparently belonging to one State Transport bus — approximately 170 and 200 meters from the collapsed bridge, a Navy search team in the morning alerted the NDRF personnel and requisitioned their help to recover of the wreckage.
later in the afternoon, the NDRF personnel rushed to the scene with three cranes and two JCBs which they — along with the Navy divers — used to pull out the one of the two portions of the bus wreckage from the river bed.
The wreckage that was fished out appeared to be a half of the bus, with upper portion of the bus having been sliced off.
However, the Navy and NDRF teams could not find any of the bodies of the missing persons, during the ninth day of their search operation.
“After having searched the area during the last eight days for 12 to 14 hours a day, the naval teams located two bus portions of wreckage submerged in water at Mahad. The two wreckage portions seemed to be parts of a bus and were found approximately 170 and 200 meters from the collapsed bridge,” a Defence spokesperson said.
After carrying spot diving despite presence of crocodiles, high current and inclement weather conditions in the river, the Navy divers along with the NDRF personnel pulled out one of the two sections of the bus attaching cranes under water. “No bodies were located in the section. It is likely that the second portion of the wreckage is of the same bus,” the Naval spokesperson said.
As many as 42 persons had gone missing on the night of August 2 after the two State transport buses and half a dozen smaller private vehicles were swept away in the swollen waters of Savithri river in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of an old bridge that connects Mahad town with Poladpur in Raigad district on the Mumbai-Goa highway. The dilapidated bridge, constructed in 1928, had caved in at 11.30 pm on that night, following heavy rains and flooding in the Savithri river.
Earlier on Friday and Saturday last, the Navy divers had recovered a carrier of a Tavera jeep and what looked like a bumper of one of the two missing State Transport buses.
The search teams have, meanwhile, recovered 27 bodies from various locations at and around the collapsed Mahad bridge. Fifteen more persons are still missing.
With the various agencies having not been able to recover more number of bodies from the Savithri river since August 7, the Maharashtra government had said on Wednesday that it would declare the missing victims of the August 2 Mahad bridge collapse as dead and give compensation to their families, in the event of the authorities failing to trace the bodies of the missing ones within two months.
Making an announcement to this effect, Maharashtra PWD Minister Chandrakant Patil had said: “Fifteen persons are still missing. We have not recovered anybody during the last four days. As a result, there is considerable anxiety among their family members. The presence of a large number of crocodiles is coming in the way of search operations”.
Meanwhile, the Navy and NDRF teams will continue their search operations on Friday to ferret out the remaining portions of two state transport buses and at least six smaller vehicles and also more bodies of the bridge collapse victims.