Watch: Bridge collapses on Mumbai-Goa highway due to heavy rainfall, 2 buses and 22 missing

Two Maharashtra state transport buses with 22 people have gone missing after the vehicles were swept away in the swollen Savitri River in Konkan region as an old bridge collapsed at Mahad. The bridge on the Mumbai-Goa Highway came down late last night, bringing traffic to a halt.

Two buses of state transport with 18 passengers, two drivers and two conductors have gone missing in the Mahad tragedy, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis said in a tweet today.

Fadnavis, who is monitoring the situation closely since morning said, “There were two parallel bridges; one is a new bridge and one constructed during the British era. The old one collapsed.”

Almost 80 per cent of the bridge reportedly collapsed bringing traffic to a complete halt. NDRF teams have been deployed at the site. There were reportedly two parallel bridges, the old one was constructed during the British era while the other one was built recently.

The old bridge was used for vehicular traffic from Goa to Mumbai. The primary reason for bridge collapse is told to be high pressure caused due to flooding of the river Savitri as a result of heavy rains. Though casualties are yet to be confirmed and relief operations are going on at a substantial pace.