Mahad tragedy: Mumbai divers called to fish out vehicles, but come up empty-handed

After all rescue agencies failed to fish out the vehicles that fell into Savitri River after the bridge collapse at Mahad, the government yesterday roped in specialist divers from a private company in Mumbai. Although the team of seven has had a couple of success stories in Savitri in the past year, this time, even they were beaten.

Experienced lot
The divers were called from Shri Sai Dragon Divers, a Mumbai-based firm that specialises in salvaging drowned ships. Everyone had hoped that the divers' experience and equipment would help them to succeed where no one else had. Sources said that the rescue agencies were worried about crocodiles in the river and that is one of the reasons they called for the specialists.

The team was enlisted by Minister Eknath Shinde after he heard that they had previously had some success in fishing out shipping boats from this very river. One of the divers, Ganesh Singh (36) recalled, "Last year, we rescued a boat from 80-ft-deep water. Since it was an old boat, we had cut it into pieces. However, two months ago, we pulled out another boat intact."

Such was the force of the river, that the team decided to send down two divers at a time to ensure they were not swept away

Both boats were stuck in deep water at Ambet, 20 km from Mahad, where several bodies have washed up in the last few days since the bridge collapse. So far, among the 41 people who are thought to have drowned in the mishap, only 26 bodies have been found. "The bodies found in the last few days were totally decomposed, but now they have started breaking into pieces. Today (Tuesday), I saw a hand floating in the river. But by the time I could inform the officials, it had already floated away," said Mahad businessman Faisal Chandale.

All in vain
"We were asked to dive at certain spots where the water was deep, and we would check a 50-metre radius around those spots. We checked eight such spots, but couldn't find anything," said Singh.

They couldn't even get close to the bridge because their metal boat was just too heavy. And even diving was a challenge for them because of the swift currents in the river.

Normally, the team sends down just one diver with oxygen supply and a 100-kg anchor. "The anchor is tied to a rope that we hold on to during the search operation. We also have a communication system so the diver can communicate with the person handling the boat. This time, however, the river was very muddy and the water was flowing too fast. The force of the river would have washed away a single diver, so we sent two divers instead," added Singh.

Yogesh Yadav (26), another team member, claimed that the flow was so strong, it made the operation dangerous. "Every five minutes, our diver kept sending us a message to keep us updated about the status," he said.