Rescuers raced to the crumbled bridge south of the financial capital of Mumbai to search for the passengers. /AFP
Mumbai — Rescuers were searching on Wednesday for 20 people missing and feared dead after two buses plunged into a fast-flowing river in western India when a bridge collapsed in torrential monsoon rain, officials said.
Emergency workers pulled two bodies from the rain-swollen river but were still searching for the others feared swept downstream following the accident south of Mumbai overnight on Tuesday.
Television footage showed large chunks of the British-colonial era bridge had fallen into the Savitri river, but there was no sign of the vehicles in the water.
The bridge is about 170 kilometers from Mumbai along a major highway connecting India’s financial capital with the tourism state of Goa.
“Two bodies have been recovered by rescue agencies. We are trying to ascertain their identities and the (rescue) operations are on,” Sanjay Patil, police superintendent of Raigad district where the accident occurred, told AFP.