At least 30 people went missing and two were dead on Wednesday, after two State transport buses and six
smaller private vehicles were swept away in swollen waters of Savithri river, following the collapse of a British-era bridge at Mahad on the
Mumbai-Goa highway late on Tuesday night.
Though there were reports earlier in the day that two bodies had been recovered from the Savithri river, no confirmation was available from either the Raigad district authorities and various agencies involved in the rescue operation. Neither survivors nor vehicles had been traced till evening by Navy, Coast Guard and IAF helicopters,” a Defence spokesperson said.
The incident took place at around 11.30 pm on Tuesday. After a mechanic working at a nearby garage Vasant Kumar noticed the collapse of the more than a century-old bridge, he immediately alerted the police about the mishap.
However, before the rescue teams could come, two State transport buses and six smaller private vehicles had already fallen into the swollen waters of Savithri river and had been swept away. However, an alert driver of another State transport bus prevented any further mishaps by stopping other vehicles from using the collapsed bridge.
The 120-metre bridge was built in 1928 and it connects Mahad town to Poladpur. There is a parallel bridge on the Mumbai-Goa highway, which was built as recently as in 2001.
The first of the two buses that fell into the Savithri river was heading to Borivli in north Mumbai from Rajapur in Ratnagiri district, while the second one was on its way from Jaigadh in Ratnagiri district to Mumbai.
There were in all 22 passengers in the buses that fell into Savithri river. “All the passengers, conductors and drivers have been identified,” a senior State transport corporation official said.
Eyewitnesses said that besides two buses, five to six private vehicles got swept away in the river. Of the missing vehicles, there was one Tavera jeep having seven persons.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who had reacted to the mishap through a tweet put out at as early as 2.30 am on Wednesday, swiftly galvanised the district administration into rescue and relief work and also alerted the central agencies. “The primary reason (for the bridge collapse) seems to be the high pressure caused by flooding of river Savitri due to heavy rains in the catchment area of Mahabaleshwar,” Fadnavis said.
Braving inclement weather conditions prevailing at the mishap site, the Navy, Indian Air Force, Coast Guard and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel launched a massive search operation for the missing persons in the morning.
The Central agencies responded immediately to the situation, with Coast Guard launching its Chetak helicopter at 8.30 am. Before long, Indian Air Force Mi-17 Helicopter began to hover over Savithri river. Indian Navy launched its Seaking 42C, an all-weather aircraft with diving team was launched by the Navy at about 10:30 am. Quick on the task, the NDRF personnel used river rafts to sail several kilometres up and down the river to look for the ill-fated buses.
“The collapsed bridge is located approximately 10 nautical miles from the Arabian Sea. The nearest Coast Guard Station located at Murud has dispatched a rescue boat and search team to Mahad to assist the NDRF and district administration. The Coast Guard ship is maintaining search seaward near river mouth for any possible sighting and rescue of people,” a defence spokesperson said in the evening..
However, by evening, the central agencies, suspended their search operation due of poor light. “The rescuers resume their search operations tomorrow,” a defence spokesperson said.
Fadnavis, who briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the incident earlier in the day, ordered an inquiry into reports that the old bridge which collapsed was not fit enough for vehicular traffic and why.
Earlier in the day, leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, former chief minister Prithiviraj Chavan and senior NCP member Ajit Pawar hit out at the BJP-led saffron alliance government, holding it squarely responsible for the mishap.
Contesting PWD Minister Chandrakant Patil’s claim that there was nothing wrong with the bridge and that after an inspection, it had been certified fit for use in May this year, Pawar said: “ If the bridge was fit for use in May this year, why has the bridge collapsed nowIJ We are not satisfied with minister’s reply. We demand that the minister be booked under section 302 of IPC (murder) for contributing to the avoidable mishap”