130-yr-old bridge has seen many accidents

Motorists drive recklessly on the bridge. Walking on the bridge is dangerous, she said.

For Mandar Bhandari,Tuesdays accident was one of many that have taken place in his backyard over the past two decades. In each case,he and his family have rushed into the Jagbudi river that flows below their home in Khed.

His neighbour,Jahnvi Surve,said that locals live in fear. Motorists drive recklessly on the bridge. Walking on the bridge is dangerous, she said.

Surve said several accidents have taken place on the 130-year-old Bharna bridge in the past. In 1985,a state transport bus oversped and broke through the barriers,but fortunately did not fall down. In 1998,a tempo ferrying a wedding party fell down at the same spot as the bus on Tuesday. The bride was among those killed, she said.

The Highway Authority had sent repeated proposals to repair the bridge which went unheard. The Kasheri to Kare Patan stretch in which the bridge falls has seen over 400 deaths in the last six years,according to local tehsil official.

The Jagbudi river is accessed from the either end of the British-era bridge by a stone staircase. The river is flanked on both banks by identical funeral pyres,a rectangular set of iron rods built into a raised concrete platform. On Tuesday morning,the bus plunged into the water between pyres.