Dadli bridge becomes focus of rescue ops in Mahad

MAHAD: The Dadli bridge on Savitri river, which is about three kilometers from the accident spot in Mahad, has now become the focal point of the rescue operations.

MAHAD: The Dadli bridge on Savitri river, which is about three kilometers from the accident spot in Mahad, has now become the focal point of the rescue operations.

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Authorities believe that the possibility of vehicles — fallen into the river last Tuesday — going beyond this bridge is negligible because their skeletons will get stuck in its pillars.

While two teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel are operating on this stretch (between accident spot and Dadli bridge), two others are scanning the waters beyond.

Authorities claimed that on Sunday they covered about 20 kilometres on the river.

“We are using echo-locators to scan the riverbed. What we are using currently is an advanced version. However, we are yet to locate the missing vehicles,” said Anupam Srivastav, NDRF commandant. Besides deploying echo-locators, officials are also using magnets, hooks and fishing nets.

Srivastav added that the operation will continue until all the missing persons and vehicles are recovered.

“If my brother goes missing in one such incident, I cannot have peace of mind unless he is found. It is the same thing for us. We are taking every possible step to rescue all those who went missing in the accident,” he added.

“We believe the missing vehicles are around Dadli bridge. We have deployed our officers accordingly, as we hope to recover them from here,” said a naval officer, on condition of anonymity, as he is not authorised to speak to the media.