Police officer Sanjay Patil says rescuers have not seen the vehicles or any survivors hours after the bridge collapsed today.
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The bridge, more than seven decades old and a critical link to the Mumbai-Goa national highway, crashed around 1 a.m. due to the flood waters rushing into the river.
Goa is a popular tourist resort.
A British-era bridge collapsed on the Mumbai-Goa highway in the wee hours of Wednesday.
The primary reason seems to be the high pressure caused by the flooding of the Savitri river following heavy rains in the catchment of Mahabaleshwar, he said. The Indian Coast Guard has deployed a Chetak helicopter and a Sea King 42C all-weather aircraft with diving team to carry out search operation to trace the missing vehicles.
22 people are feared drowned after the two State Transport buses in which they were travelling in fell in the Savitri river after the bridge collapsed.
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“The bridge which collapsed was constructed during the British era. Administration has rushed to spot for rescue&immediate measures”, CM tweeted. Administration is ascertaining strength & stability of new bridge. “The old one got collapsed”, he tweeted at 2.30 a.m. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said there the casualties were hard to assess given that it was very dark when the mishap took place. Though casualties are yet to be confirmed and relief operations are going on at a substantial pace.
