Saturday, Apr 20, 2024 | Last Update : 03:14 AM IST
Officials to carry on Mahad rescue operations
A member of the National Disaster Response Force tries to locate the remains of swept away vehicles using a Eco Source Sensor in Mahad on Monday. (Photo: PTI )
A member of the National Disaster Response Force tries to locate the remains of swept away vehicles using a Eco Source Sensor in Mahad on Monday. (Photo: PTI )
The sixth day of the search operations for the bodies of the 16 people still assumed missing and who were commuting on the bridge in Mahad when it collapsed, continued on Monday but saw no success.
However, officials said the rescue efforts would not stop. “We are not going to call off our operation and will continue to fish out the remains and bodies,” said Raigad’s residential deputy collector, Satish Bagal. After two bodies were found on Sunday, the death toll had risen to 26.
The accident on the night of August 2 took place on the Mumbai-Goa highway where the over 130-year-old bridge collapsed, taking with it two Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) buses and one Tavera car.
Officials said the identities of the 26 bodies have been confirmed and the bodies have been given to the relatives. “So far all the bodies recovered have been identified and handed over to relatives,” an official said.
Meanwhile, it has come to light that the magnet technique being used from day-one of the rescue operations by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Navy and Coast Guard in which magnets weighing between 30-300 kgs were used in order to locate the submerged buses and vehicles, was not as sound as thought earlier.
As a result, the rescue agencies have brought in more and more eco-sound sensors that scan the riverbed using sonar waves and relay a picture on to screens attached.
Incessant rain has hampered the rescue operations, as well as the current of the Savitri river into which the vehicles had fallen.
Until now, only screwed on plates that said ‘reserved for women’ was found on Saturday afternoon near a local hotel.
Officials had then shifted their focus to a whirlpool behind the hotel, as it was believed that area housed more parts of the bus. No other part of the buses or the Tavera has been found since.
