Govt orders judicial probe in bridge collapse; 5 bodies found

 The state government today announced a judicial probe in the collapse of a British-era bridge here in which at least 22 people in two buses went missing, even as rescuers have fished out five bodies so far from the swollen Savitri river.

Two state buses, with 22 people, including the crew, and some other vehicles got washed away in the river amid heavy rains late Tuesday following the collapse of a bridge on Mumbai-Goa Highway near Mahad, about 170 km from Mumbai.

Nearly 40 hours after the launch of massive multi-agency operations, searchers have managed to recover five bodies, police said.

"So far, our search teams have recovered five bodies - three males and two females," Raigad Additional Superintendent of Police Sanjay Patil said.

The bodies have been sent for post-mortem, he added.
About 20 boats with nearly 160 personnel of Coast Guard, NDRF, and Navy, apart from local fishermen and rafters, are at the work to find the remains of the two buses and other vehicles, which are also suspected to have been swept away.

The local administration has set up a help centre for the kin of the victims.
Earlier this morning, a 300-kg magnet was lowered in the waters with the help of a crane to trace the missing buses.

Something has got stuck to the magnet and efforts are on to pull it out of the river, a local official said.

Deepak Mundhe, the son of Gorakhnath Mundhe, the driver of one of the ill-fated buses of the State Transport Corporation, expressed deep shock over the incident but has not lost hope.

"We have not lost our hope. We are hoping that my father would come alive," Mundhe said.

An NDRF jawan, who came out of the river after three hours of intense search, said, "The fast flow of flood water is posing a tough challenge for us but that is not going to be a deterrent in our mission."

In the state Assembly, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced a judicial probe into the bridge collapse.

"A judicial inquiry will be conducted," Fadnavis said replying to a discussion on the issue.