PANAJI
Three members of a family were among four persons from Loutolim who died when a SUV in which they were travelling in, rammed into the protective railing of the Zuari bridge and plunged into the river in the wee hours of Thursday.
However, it took over 12 hours and a joint operation of personnel from the fire services, coastal police and the Indian Navy to retrieve the SUV as well as the bodies of the deceased.
As the vehicle, with the bodies in it, was being retrieved by a crane, onlookers and viewers, who were hooked onto the social media, were shocked over the disturbing images which unfolded as the fire personnel had to cut parts of the vehicle to get the bodies out.
According to information available, the four which included the husband-wife duo of Henry Araujo (45) and Priscilla D'Cruz (53), Henry's brother Allwyn (35) and their friend Austin Fernandes (35) were travelling towards Panaji, after having celebrated the birthday of Allwyn.
However, when they reached the middle of the Zuari bridge, the driver Henry lost control of the vehicle which veered onto the opposite lane, jumped the footpath and went to ram the protective railing, before plunging into the river.
Some persons who heard a loud sound when the accident occurred immediately called up the police as well as the fire services, after which the search for the vehicle was started by the Verna fire service personnel along with the Agassaim police.
But as the vehicle could not be located even by 8 am, the Indian Navy was called in and they brought in their divers as well as a powerful magnet attached to a rope.
A joint operation then commenced with the fire personnel using their underground camera, the Indian Navy using the magnet and their divers, and the Goa Police along with the firemen using a tug boat with an anchor attached to a rope in a bid to locate the SUV.
However, it was only at around 12 pm, nearly 12 hours after the vehicle had plunged, that the Navy personnel were successful in locating the vehicle. And it was at 1 pm that the crane belonging to Dilip Buildcon Limited was used to lift the vehicle out with the four bodies still in it.
The SUV was then placed inside a ferry boat where the fire personnel used machinery to cut parts of the vehicles to remove the bodies, which were later taken into the waiting ambulances to the GMC for post-mortem.
As the bodies were being taken in the ambulances, family members of the deceased who were present started wailing, particularly the sister of Priscilla who apparently is married in Agassaim.
The distraught family members were also present at the site as bodies were being taken in the ambulances.
A large number of onlookers were present on the Agassaim side as well as the Cortalim side to get a glimpse of the search operation.
Agassaim PSI Praful Giri is conducting further investigations under the supervision of PI Vikram Naik.
