
A total of 30 bodies have been recovered till now from accident site after a bus carrying staff members of agriculture university plunged into a gorge in the mountainous section of Poladpur in Raigad district of Maharashtra on Saturday.
A team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has been deployed to help in the rescue operations.
Giving out the details of the accident, Raigad guardian minister Ravindra Chavan said that bus fell down into gorge due to the driver's fault and only one passenger survived the fall.
"Bus fell in a 500-feet gorge due to the fault of the driver. Only one passenger has survived. We are trying to recover the bodies," Chavan said.
Thirty-three passengers died in the accident which took place at around 12.30 pm, he said.
SP Anil Paraskar said the passengers were on their way to Mahabaleshwar, a hill station in Satara district in Western Maharashtra, for a picnic, when the driver lost control over the vehicle while negotiating a turn and it fell into the gorge.
All the bus passengers were the staff of the Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth at Dapoli in Raigad district, he said.