Mehta confirmed that two buses and at least six private vehicles had fallen into the river, adding the water flow was too strong to undertake a rescue effort.
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Earlier, there were reports that two bodies were recovered during the massive search.
Officials of the district administration and police have rushed to the spot. According to National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF), almost 80 rescuers and divers personnel have been sent for the search operation. Intermittent rain and winds have severly hampered the search operations.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and offered his support. In this 24 hours rescue team were unable to find the vehicles and the people.
Speaking to ANI here, Fadnavis said that there was heavy rains in the catchment areas of Mahabaleshwar, which led to high pressure flooding on the river Savitri and the bride which was made during the British era collapsed. “Raigad Collector confirms that one way traffic is now resumed on the new bridge”, CM wrote.
The state government announced judicial inquiry in Mahad bridge collapse incident. It collapsed around 11:30 pm on 2nd August 2016.
Traffic along the Mumbai Goa highway has been diverted and smaller vehicles have been directed to use the Mahgaon and two other routes. There were two bridges one was the old one and one was newly constructed that were running parallel over the river.
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.
Raigad Collector Ugale and Superintendent of Police Suvez Haque monitored the rescue operations. The single-lane bridge was built in British-era colonial times.
The scene at a bridge collapse in Maharashtra where 22 bus passengers are missing.
Rescuers are searching for 22 people who are feared dead.
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The bridge which was collapsed was about 5km from the town of Mahad in the Raigad district of Maharashtra.
