The second Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bus, which had sunk in the bridge collapse incident at Mahad, was finally found on Saturday afternoon a good 12 days after the incident
The second Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bus, which had sunk in the bridge collapse incident at Mahad, was finally found on Saturday afternoon a good 12 days after the incident on the Mumbai-Goa Expressway.
The wreckage was found by Navy divers about 400 metres from where the British bridge collapsed at 11.25 pm on August 2, resulting in one of the longest and most challenging search and rescue operations the state has seen. “It is assessed that the wreckage is recoverable. NDRF teams are being informed and a crane for recovery of the wreckage is being requested,” spokesperson Commander Rahul Sinha said in a statement.
NDRF personnel were to pull out the wreckage of the bus from the Savitri River by nightfall. Officials also said that they expect to find the wreckage of the Tavera in which around eight people were travelling and is still missing, not too far from the site where the wreckage of the bus was found. “The water in the river has not fallen and so we suspect that the Tavera will be nearby too,” said a defence spokesperson.
The wreckage found is of the Rajapur-Borivali bus while the Jaigad-Mumbai bus was found on Thursday only 170 to 200 metres from the bridge.
Meanwhile, the kin of the 14 still missing persons have finally left the accident site.
The rescue teams have recovered 26 bodies until now. Sanjay Patil, additional SP of Raigad police, said, “The local MIDC Mahad police has registered a case of accidental deaths of 26 people whose bodies have been recovered while a missing case has been registered for those whose bodies have not been found so far.”
Officials have said that the buses were not visible due to a deep trench in the riverbed, where the buses were stuck and will continue to search for the Tavera.
