Rescue teams on Sunday recovered the mangled remains of the SUV that plunged into River Savitri when the colonial-era bridge in Mahad collapsed on August 2.
The bodies of two men who were trapped inside the vehicle when it drowned were also recovered, taking the toll to 28. Fourteen more bodies are yet to be recovered, going by the Maharashtra government’s own estimate of 42 missing persons.
“Continuing the search on day 11, Indian Navy divers located wreckage of a Tavera MUV. The vehicle bore the licence number MH04 GD 7837. Two bodies, both male, were also recovered,” said Commander Rahul Sinha, spokesman, Western Naval Command. The debris was found 300 meters from the ruptured bridge, submerged 4-5 metres under water. “The extraction was carried out jointly by the Navy divers and the NDRF,” he said.
The divers had earlier found the debris of two State Transport buses around 400 meters away. The decades-old bridge across Savitri river was to be dismantled in December this year as part of the Mumbai-Goa Highway expansion project.
The State government has announced a compensation of Rs. 14 lakh each to the kin of those who died in the MSRTC buses and Rs. 10 lakh each to the family of those in the other vehicles that were washed away.
The combing operations, the biggest in scale in the Konkan region in recent times, involve jawans of the National Disaster Response Force, the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard. They are being helped by the local fishermen who often accompany the search teams in their boats.
(With inputs from PTI)
