Indian navy divers found wreckage of buses in bridge collapse

Navy divers Thursday located wreckage of two buses that sank in a river last week after a bridge collapsed in the Indian state of Maharashtra, officials said.

"The wreckage of buses was found approximately 170 and 200 meter from the collapsed bridge site," an official said, adding that spot diving was carried out despite presence of crocodiles, high current and tough conditions in the river.

The 50-feet highway bridge collapsed in Raigadh district, about 63 km south of Mumbai city, the capital of Maharashtra last week. The British-era bridge connecting Mumbai to famous tourist resort of Goa crashed in River Savitri due to flood waters triggered by heavy monsoon rains.

Local authorities said at least 42 people were killed in the tragedy. The victims were inside the vehicles at the time of the collapse.

So far 27 bodies were found and search of the remaining 15 is underway.

Following the tragedy authorities pressed in Air force, coast guards and several teams of disaster response force to search for the missing vehicles and bodies.

The state's Chief Minster Devendra Fadnavis has announced a judicial probe into the tragedy and announced an ex-gratia relief of 7482 U.S. dollars to each family who have lost their member in the disaster.

In March this year, a 60-meter portion of a flyover collapsed in Kolkata city of West Bengal, killing 25 and injuring scores of others.

Deadly accidents due to failing infrastructure is common in India. Endit