A British-era bridge across the Savitri River on the Mumbai-Goa highway collapsed late on Tuesday night, bringing traffic to a halt on the stretch. Around 22 people are believed to be missing. Two Mumbai-bound buses are among the dozen or so vehicles that are believed to have fallen into the flooded river.
Officials of the district administration and police have rushed to the spot. Three teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), comprising of about 80 personnel including divers, have been pressed into rescue operations. Heavy rain in the area are slowing the rescue operations down.
No survivors or vehicles have been found so far. The Savitri River is presently seeing a swell in its water level thanks to heavy monsoonal rain that has lashed the area.
Traffic on the busy highway, which had been brought to a standstill, has been diverted to a new bridge nearby.
The bridge was about 5 km from the town of Mahad in Maharashtra's Raigad District, about 170 km south of Mumbai. It collapsed around 11:30 pm on Tuesday.
Officials of the district administration and police have rushed to the spot. Three teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), comprising of about 80 personnel including divers, have been pressed into rescue operations. Heavy rain in the area are slowing the rescue operations down.
No survivors or vehicles have been found so far. The Savitri River is presently seeing a swell in its water level thanks to heavy monsoonal rain that has lashed the area.
Traffic on the busy highway, which had been brought to a standstill, has been diverted to a new bridge nearby.
The bridge was about 5 km from the town of Mahad in Maharashtra's Raigad District, about 170 km south of Mumbai. It collapsed around 11:30 pm on Tuesday.