A British-era bridge collapsed on the Mumbai-Goa highway in Raigad district late on Tuesday. The death toll was not confirmed as two buses and several vehicles were reported to have been washed away. PTI reported that at least 22 people went missing after two state-run buses were swept away in flooded Savitri river.
Hindustan Times report, however, quoted official sources and said 29 people were missing and added that 20 vehicles were washed away. The bridge collapsed around midnight on Tuesday, but vehicles, unable to see the missing section in the dark, too fell into the river.
Officials said that due to strong river flow and heavy rains there was a possibility that victims could have been washed away into the sea. "The river's current is extremely strong, and with so many hours having passed before an aerial search and rescue operation was launched, it is most likely that the vehicles and people would have got washed away from the bridge vicinity," a DNA report quoted the Coast Guard as saying.
The incident took place near Mahad, 170km from Mumbai. Besides the buses, several other vehicles were also believed to have fallen into the swollen river. Two state transport corporation buses with 18 passengers and four crew members went missing in the tragedy, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, said in a tweet.
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