[pixantz]

Now that the whole state is aware of the state-of-affairs regarding the old colonial bridges and how its all a recipe for disaster, have any regulars on these routes chalked any alternative road map(if there are any such roads) which would help with the same
destinations without having to go over a single "death bridge" on the way? If there are such roads it would be mighty helpful for fellow members who are/would be going that way in future....

[manickaraj]

We do see these negligence keep happening here. Disaster should be stopped after one incident by any means. But unfortunately it's not. Firstly the emergency call should have been taken. It could have given hope on the authorities.

In Chennai airport the glasses broken for the 65+ times and no authorities do anything about it.
Until the governing system properly respond to such situation these things will be keep happening.

[rajpalkaran]

All of us would do well to read this story from last year: http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reportage/emergency

It's no wonder a story on India's bridges is titled Emergency.

[SDP]

Latest updates:

1. ST Buses had 30/32 people instead of the earlier reported 22
2. Count of impacted vehicles is 3: Two ST buses and a Tavera. The Honda City (earlier mentioned) has been ruled out.
3. Except bits and pieces, none of the 3 vehicles have been recovered till now
4. Bodies recovered till now - 27
5. After 6 days of search and rescue operation, the hopes of recovering the remaining bodies and vehicles is fading fast.

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by SDP

Latest updates:

1. ST Buses had 30/32 people instead of the earlier reported 22
2. Count of impacted vehicles is 3: Two ST buses and a Tavera. The Honda City (earlier mentioned) has been ruled out.
3. Except bits and pieces, none of the 3 vehicles have been recovered till now
4. Bodies recovered till now - 27
5. After 6 days of search and rescue operation, the hopes of recovering the remaining bodies and vehicles is fading fast.

Thanks for the update.

The vehicle cabins may have been shattered into pieces after falling down. Even the aggregates like engines may have been detached from the chassis. We may not get to see the whole bus again.

[Guna]

Originally Posted by smartcat

This is an extremely rare event and there is pretty much nothing you can do about it. While driving on highways, the possibility of bridge or flyover collapsing shouldn't be on your mind.

I may be paranoid but that's how my chances of surviving will be higher. Even during day driving, when I see a narrow, old bridge, I slow down, make sure that there is no oncoming vehicles etc etc. Forget about the missing bridge, even a small obstacle can result in accidents on such bridges.
Sad incident, drivers need to be always watchful.

[haria]

Originally Posted by smartcat

While driving on highways, the possibility of bridge or flyover collapsing shouldn't be on your mind.

Originally Posted by Guna

I may be paranoid but that's how my chances of surviving will be higher. Even during day driving, when I see a narrow, old bridge, I slow down

My friend had a pretty scary experience couple of years back when he was traveling towards Guntur from bangalore.

It was late night (around 2am or so) and the roads were deserted. He came across a flyover (one of the many many which we encounter on the highways). After a minute or so driving on the flyover, some intuition made him slow down and when he peered ahead, he was seeing only darkness.

To his horror, he saw a yawning gap ahead and since he was in low speed,could stop in time. What he saw gave him shivers - A section of about 20 m was missing - The darn flyover was still under construction!
No warning OR signage anywhere before the flyover and NO lights , Nothing ! It took him some time to calm his nerves and make a U turn and go back. While going back, he saw another couple of vehicles coming on the same flyover and he got out, warned them and they all spent the next few minutes dragging some pieces of heavy rocks on the the road - in the beginning of the flyover!.

No words to describe the utter utter irresponsibility of the people in charge of the work!

Needless to say, my friend was quite nervous for the rest of the trip whenever he came across any flyover!

[m-hawk]

About the Savitri river read somewhere in news about some sand mafia active there seems like they dug up an extra bit but photos revealed the footholdings intact across the length of the ill fated bridge seems the water had reached to a new high and washed off joints which weren't ever expected to be submursed anyways some local knowledge will come up soon . RIP the people who lost lives and courage to family to bear such a tragic loss .

[arun_josie]

Looks like the submerged wreckage of the buses have been found,

Source: http://www.newindianexpress.com/nati...cle3574547.ece

MUMBAI: After a lengthy search for the past eight days, Naval teams have located two bus wreckages submerged in the Savitri River at Mahad, where tragedy struck after a British-era bridge collapsed.
The two wreckages seem to be parts of the buses and were found approximately 170 and 200 meters from the collapsed bridge.
It is yet to be ascertained if the wreckage discovered belonged to one bus or both the buses that had been submerged.
Spot diving was carried out despite presence of crocodiles, high current and tough conditions in the river.
The NDRF teams were alerted about the recovery and a crane was procured for the recovery of the wreckage.
The Indian Navy team comprising of personnel specialising in diving have been searching for the wreckage and survivors since the morning of August 4.
The effort was in response to a request received from the state government on undertaking search along the river for survivors and bodies.
Till now 26 bodies have been retrieved from the river and the total number of missing people is 41.
In the mishap of last Tuesday, two State Transport busses and two private cars fell in Savitri River along with 38 passengers.

[Shubhendra]

Originally Posted by abirnale

Maharashtra seems to be full of such bridges. This one is on Hiranyakeshi River near Ajara.

Just after a day of Mahad bridge collapse i was driving my Jeep with my friend on this route at 03:00 AM in the night and very heavy downpour with limited visibility. As i was already aware of this bridge being an old one you wont believe i stopped my Jeep just before the bridge, switched on the LED bar, double checked the bridge and then crossed it
The pic of washed away Mahad bridge flashed in front of my eyes while crossing the bridge.......

Regards,
Shubhendra Singh

[SnakemanJohny]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

For a fact, this is a section where 4 lane work is complete as it looks like from the maps, Arial Video Grabs etc.

This is something really normal in our country where expansion to dual carriageway means retain the old bridge for one way traffic and build another one for the other direction.

This "Trend" of retaining older & weaker bridges should really stop now. Technology has advanced and we can build better bridges to save lives.

Agree there. This practice is common in Bengal too. Hurried expansion of National Highways to meet targets is the reason behind retaining old bridges and flyovers while building a new one just beside. Same practice followed in Calcutta city while widening some roads, like Zeerut Bridge near the zoo, or Park Circus No. 4.
One old flyover on NH2-NH6 collapsed many years ago and four/six lane traffic is being forced to take the newer 3-lane arm both ways, causing traffic jams many kilometres long at night. The rebuilding is on at a snail's pace !
At Kolaghat (NH6) they tried the same on the Rupnarayan river, the old one being frequently shut for repairs. Then they built a third arm finally, taking load off the old one to repair it well. So now there we have three bridges !
In India, we are like that only !!

[vivek95]

Update

One of the two ill-fated buses has been finally fished out. MH 40 N 9739 Rajapur depot that was working Rajapur--Mumbai ( Borivali ) on that fateful day. :( :(

Edit : Noticed now that @arun_josie has already posted the update. Sorry for duplication.
PC - resp. Owners

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by vivek95

Update

One of the two ill-fated buses has been finally fished out. MH 40 N 9739 Rajapur depot that was working Rajapur--Mumbai ( Borivali ) on that fateful day. :( :(

Edit : Noticed now that @arun_josie has already posted the update. Sorry for duplication.
PC - resp. Owners

People were thinking that few of the missing bodies might have been trapped inside the bus. But looking at the pictures, it looks unlikely.

The portion of bus body above the floor must have been broken by the impact with no people trapped inside.

Let us hope that the missing people / bodies will be located soon.

[PetrolRider]

The Times of India today reported that authorities found the handbrake of that ill-fated bus was engaged, speculation the driver had desperately attempted to brake.
Just wondering how handbrake of such a heavy vehicle works? Couldn't be the case that by applying handbrake would have made that bus uncontrollable and hence not being able to stop in time?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by PetrolRider

The Times of India today reported that authorities found the handbrake of that ill-fated bus was engaged, speculation the driver had desperately attempted to brake.
Just wondering how handbrake of such a heavy vehicle works? Couldn't be the case that by applying handbrake would have made that bus uncontrollable and hence not being able to stop in time?

From what I have come across from various sources, the Handbrake was engaged so that the Bus doesn't get washed away while resting under deep water and high currents from the river.

I am not sure if the driver applied handbrakes to stop the bus as he may have hardly got a chance to react in an accident that he would have never ever anticipated.