Zuari Bridge Accident: Drunk Driving, Mechanical Failure, Over Speeding Or Old Bridge?

PANAJI: Four lives lost in a fraction of a few seconds on Thursday night and as Goa comes to terms with the death of four of its own, in a deadly accident that rocked the state, most Goans must be wondering if it was a case of drunk driving, mechanical failure of the braking system of the SUV, plain over speeding or the result of a bridge that should have long been decommissioned?

While one cannot excuse the driver for not being cautious and attempting to overtake another vehicle (as reported) on an old bridge, one question remains – would the vehicle have jumped over if it was a modern bridge built with safety shock or impact absorbing railings?

While the first three options cause accidents all over the world, the fact that the accident happened on a bridge that should have long been decommissioned and closed to traffic, cannot be overlooked. Modern-day bridges have railings that can absorb, deflect or withstand the impact of an accident, preventing the accident vehicle from going aboard.

Meanwhile, according to reports, four bodies were retrieved from the Zuari river in Goa into which an SUV carrying four passengers fell after ramming into the bridge barrier and summersaulting into the river at around 1 am in the wee hours of Thursday.

A rescue operation was launched to trace the vehicle and its occupants, but the rescue team was not able to make any headway due to the darkness.

The Navy was called in on Thursday morning and boats from the River Navigation department roped in for the search and rescue operation.

All The deceased persons are from Goa. The operation to trace the vehicle and its occupants were jointly carried out by Indian Coast Guard, Navy, fire and emergency services and Goa Police personnel.

The operation was successful only after Navy divers were pressed into service.

Goa Police had began a rescue operation after receiving a call after Wednesday midnight that a vehicle was plunged into the river after ramming into the railing of the Zuari Bridge at Cortalim in South Goa.

The bridge is located on the 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 a.m. from Panaji control room about the incident and soon they rushed to the site.

“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 news agency IANS.

Police said that an 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 bodies.

The doors of the SUV had to be cut open to remove the dead bodies which were stuck inside the wreckage.

Gloom spread over Lotoulim village as four of its residents lost their lives in the mishap. The four occupants of the ill-fated SUV that plunged into the river Zuari were identified as Priscilla D’Cruz , Henry Arauzo, Olvin Arauzo and Austin Fernandes.

All four are residents of Lotoulim. Pricilla who is said to be driving the ill-fated vehicle at the time of the accident, was active in politics and was a local Congress party leader.

“Shocked and pained by the tragic death of Congress leader from Nuvem, late Pricilla D’Cruz in the Zuari incident,” said GPPC President Amit Patkar.