Mumbai: A 300 kg magnet was lowered this morning into the swollen Savitri river to trace two buses carrying 22 people who were swept away by the river after a British-era bridge collapsed near Mahad in Raigad district of Maharashtra.
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He said the incident at Mahad (in Raigad district) is “a wake up call for us to look at the state of affairs of our bridges”.
There were reports yesterday that two bodies were recovered during search.
An official press release said Mr. Ahir directed NDRF to expand its search and rescue operations beyond the present 15 kms to an area 30 kms downstream.
An NDRF jawan, who came out of the river after three hours of intense search, said, “The fast flow of flood water is posing a tough challenge for us but that is not going to be a deterrent in our mission”. The bridge is said to have been built under British rule.
Around 22 people, including the crew, were said to be travelling in the two buses.
The disaster struck after heavy rains flooded the Savitri river, which originates in Mahabaleshwar and flows through Ratnagiri-Raigad districts.
While Prime Minister assured full support and all help in rescue and relief operations, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has deployed a Chetak helicopter along with a Sea King 42C all-weather aircraft with a diving team.
He further directed National Highways Authority of India to immediately undertake fix work on Mumbai-Goa NH & complete work before 25 August 2016.
The bridge straddling the river lies along a major highway connecting Mumbai to the tourism state of Goa. He was accompanied by PWD Minister Chnadrakant Patil and Leader of Opposition in state Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil. “Our team has rushed to the spot”, National Disaster Response Force chief O.P Singh said. Heavy rain in the area are slowing the rescue operations down. Rains also continued to lash the entire coastal Konkan region as well as northern and western Maharashtra.
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Police department diverted the traffic from this bridge to a new bridge which was nearby.
