Panaji, India
Four bodies were retrieved from the Zuari river in Goa into which an SUV carrying four passengers fell following which a rescue operation was launched to trace the vehicle and its occupants, the police said on Thursday.
The deceased persons are from Goa. The operation to trace the vehicle and its occupants was jointly carried out by the Indian Coast Guard, Navy, fire and emergency services and Goa Police personnel.
The operation was successful only after the divers of the Navy were pressed into service.
Goa Police had begun a rescue operation after receiving a call after Wednesday midnight that one vehicle had plunged into the Zuari river after ramming into the railing of the bridge at Cortalim in South Goa, a police officer said.
The bridge is located on a national highway between Panaji (North Goa) and Margao (South Goa).
Dilip Bicholkar, in charge of Fire and Emergency Service at Verna, said that they received a call at 1.07 am from the Panaji control room about the incident and rushed to the site soon.
"We could not trace the vehicle with our equipment during night time, hence we sought help from divers of the Indian Navy who arrived in the morning and thus we could retrieve bodies and vehicle on Thursday afternoon," Bicholkar told IANS.
Police said that one onlooker had informed them about the incident at midnight and since then, the search operation was on. It took around 12 hours to trace the vehicle and retrieve the bodies.
WATCH WION LIVE HERE
You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.