Mahad: Nine days after the horrific collapse of a bridge in Mahad over the Savitri River, one of the two buses which fell into the river has been found.
“After a long search for the last eight days, the Naval teams have located two bus wreckages submerged in the water at Mahad,” the Defence PRO said. “The two wreckages seem to be parts of busses and were found approximately 170 and 200 meters from the collapsed bridge. Despite the current and the presence of crocodiles in River Savitri, the naval divers found the wreckage after eight days of sustained effort,” the Defence PRO said.
Rescue personnel have so far found 26 bodies during the search and rescue operations launched a day after the two State Transport buses and some other vehicles fell into the swollen river after the bridge collapse on the night of August 2.
The NDRF, Navy and Coast Guard, have pooled in their resources for the search and rescue operation. Two days ago as the flow of flood water receded search operations were intensified near the collapsed bridge.
An NDRF team said it would not call off their operation till they get orders from higher authorities. “We would try to reach as near as possible to the site of collapsed bridge this afternoon to be doubly sure that there are no vehicles stuck near the bridge,” NDRF’s 5th battalion commandant Anupam Srivastava said.
The NDRF, Navy and Coast Guard officials had so far been able to locate only a signboard of one of the missing State Transport buses bearing the word ‘reserved’ on it. Srivastava said they are using various advance techniques, including electronic sensors, fish finders (sonar devices), and massive magnets to trace the metal bodies of the vehicles in the water.
