Bridge falls, vehicles swept away in river at Mahad; 29 feared dead

MAHAD/MUMBAI: At least 29 people are missing and feared dead after the rain-swollen Savithri river washed away a 100-year-old bridge on the Mumbai-Goa highway at

MAHAD/MUMBAI: At least 29 people are missing and feared dead after the rain-swollen Savithri river washed away a 100-year-old bridge on the Mumbai-Goa highway at Mahad 170 km south of Mumbai on Tuesday night, taking with it two buses and at least one SUV. Nearly 24 hours after the incident, there was no sign of either people or vehicles.

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The danger was first spotted by a man who works in a garage nearby who saw the bridge disappear with two buses on it around 11.30 pm. He called up his employer who alerted the police.

Heavy and incessant rain and the moonless night hampered search efforts that had to wait till day broke nearly six hours later, by when three teams of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) and squads from the Navy and the Coast Guard reached the scene.

They used helicopters and boats and rafts to scour the area all along the river’s course till Harihareshwar, where it empties into the Arabian Sea, but found no trace of people or vehicles till late on Wednesday, when operations were scaled back as night fell. The navy and the coast guard have stationed ships off Harhareshwar to try and spot any survivors who may have been washed out to sea.

Officials said the heavy rain in the catchment area at Mahabaleshwar (309 mm in the 24 hours ended 8.30 am on Wednesday) and all along its course upstream of Mahad (230 mm in the same period) had turned the river into a raging torrent of muddy water. This was hampering the search and rescue operations. The experts on the scene said they were at a loss to explain why there was no sign of at least the two big buses. They even used magnets in a bid to home in on the metal bodies of the vehicles.

The state had certified the bridge as safe in the inspection undertaken in May. There was reportedly also pressure from locals not to demolish it, though a new bridge had been built just a few feet away in 2000. This new bridge too has been closed to traffic as a precaution. The traffic along the highway has been diverted along smaller roads in the area.