A 50-year-old man died after a part of a culvert collapsed near Kashid beach along the Murud-Salav road on Sunday night following a heavy downpour coupled with the high tide. The man was crossing the small bridge (culvert) in his motorbike when it collapsed and he fell into it.
An official from Murud police station informed that two motorbikes fell at the incident site around 8.30 pm. However, only one person died while two others received minor injuries. The two injured were discharged after first aid.
The deceased identified as Vinod Chavan, a resident of Ekdara village who was a horse-handler at the Kashid beach.
The India Meteorological Department (IMP) has issued an orange alert for the district and as per the district administration, the district has been receiving a constant rainfall since Sunday evening.
Nidhi Chaudhari, the district collector said that more than 300 mm rainfalls were recorded in the Murud area where the bridge collapse was reported. “Heavy rainfall and high tide might have caused the bridge to collapse,” said Chaudhari. She added that the bridge was not on the list of dangerous bridges lists. “We are getting more details about the bridge like the year of constructions from the PWD. We have not received any letter from the PWD about any structural audit of the small bridge,” said Chaudhari.
Meanwhile, the district administration has evacuated villagers from the low-lying areas and issued an alert. “So far, two more injuries have been reported from the district due to heavy rainfall,” said Chaudhari. Following the bridge collapse, the traffic has been closed on the route and the traffic on the Alibaug route has been diverted to Supe village.
