While two bodies have been recovered by the search and rescue operation team so far, severe rain and over flowing Savitri river have severely impeded the excercise. However, now the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is also faced with the perils of crocodiles that have been spotted in the swell of the river.
Dangers and risks are always part and parcel of any search and rescue operations but looking for bodies in a crocodile-infested river is another matter, especially when the location is Savitri river in Mahad village of Raigad district.
The Navy, Coast Guard and NDRF teams that were deployed to find the wreckage of two state transport buses and around dozen private vehicles, which fell in the swollen river on Tuesday night around 11:30pm - were in vary of crocodiles in the waters.
On Wednesday morning, when the teams started the search operations - a warning was sounded to the teams by local authorities on encountering crocodiles measuring between seven to 12-feet in size.
"Crocodiles are present in these water, however around 3 kms from the crash spot. Warnings were given by the collector's office and local police on chances of coming across a number of crocodiles in the Savitri river," Deputy Commander of NDRF, Pandit Ithape told dna.
He added that, the warning was certainly shocking, but the teams were ready to counter any dangers.
Admitting that the bridge collapse tragedy was one of the difficult task encountered by him, Pandit said, the voracious weather - heavy downpour - was also a tremendous challenge for his team.
Even local villagers claimed to have spotted several crocodiles in the river - with monsoon been the favorite season of the reptiles to swim neat the shallows. "Warning boards have been put all around the river banks - so as to warn people of the water been infested with the crocodiles," said Mahad-local Janardhan Sawant.
Sawant claimed that, two weeks back - a small hamlet on the banks of the river saw a 12-feet crocodile resting near the cattle washing area. "Several attacks on cattle and even small boats have gone unnoticed. The local authorities are aware of this, but seem to be too scared to do anything," lamented Sawant.
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 "A crocodile basking on the banks of a river")
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