Mahad bridge collapse: 14 bodies recovered as the search operation continues

Nine bodies have been recovered from scouring Savitri river after it swept away parts of a Maharashtra bridge, engulfing two buses with 22 people.  The bridge on Mumbai-Goa Highway had collapsed near Mahad, about 170 km from Mumbai, on Tuesday.

Massive multi-agency operations continue to find the missing vehicles and rest of the passengers.

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.

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.”

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced a judicial probe into the incident.

In other Maharashtra districts, while rains spared Nashik after incessant downpour over the past few days, moderate to heavy rainfall disrupted normal life in Kolhapur, filling small dams almost to capacity.

In the national capital and some northern states including Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, there was no rainfall and maximum temperatures rose by few notches.

In New Delhi though there was no rainfall, it was a humid day with the mercury settling at 36.7 degrees Celsius, three notches above the normal.

The flood situation continued to be grim in Bihar where the death toll mounted to 64 with over 33 lakh people in 13 districts still affected.

Purnia has witnessed 26 fatalities, followed by 15 in Katihar and eight in Supaul.

Meanwhile, the flood situation in Assam improved considerably, though nearly three lakh people are still reeling under its impact in 10 districts. Close to eight lakh people were affected across 638 villages till yesterday.

In Odisha, incessant rains triggered by a low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal disrupted normal life, leaving low-lying areas in cities like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Puri, Sambalpur, Jagatsinghpur and Koraput inundated.

Flood-like situation was witnessed in Sambalpur city in the western part of the state which recorded highest rainfall of 240 mm. Rain water gushed into houses.

Rajasthan has recorded excess rains with 20 of its 33 districts receiving more than normal rainfalls so far this monsoon.

Average rainfall in the state from June 1 to August 3 is 267.05 mm but this year during the corresponding period the state has recorded 360.45 mm rain, nearly 35 per cent higher than the average.

Districts of West Bengal received little or no rainfall, but day temperatures remained low owing to cloudy conditions.

Diamond Harbour and Digha in the coastal area near Bay of Bengal received the highest rainfall in the state at 17.8 mm and 17.2 mm.