KOLHAPUR: Thirty-three persons were killed when the bus they were travelling in plunged into a 500-ft gorge at Ambenali ghat on the Poladpur-Mahabaleshwar road in Raigad district on Saturday morning.All the deceased were employees of Dr Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli, in Ratnagiri and were headed to Mahabaleshwar for a picnic in a university bus (in picture). The driver and helper also died. There was only one survivor. Till late evening, the rescue teams could retrieve 14 bodies and called off the operation after dark.The state government has announced an ex gratia of 4 lakh for the kin of those who died. Mahad taluka tehsildar Chandrasen Pawar said prima facie, investigation suggests the bus slipped on a heap of mud kept along the roadside in the ghat section and plunged into the gorge. "Our first priority is to recover the bodies. After completing the task, we will find the cause of accident ," he told TOI.Dr S G Bhave, director of extension education of the agriculture university, said a total of 40 staff members were expected to go on the trip, but six cancelled at the last minute. The group was first headed to Mahabaleshwar, and had planned to go to the wheat research centre of the Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth at Rahuri in Ahmednagar district too."We are still in the process of identifying all those who were travelling. They were mostly clerical staff of the university and residents of Dapoli, Vengurla, Kankavli, Satara," he said.An official from the university said all the deceased were in the age group of 35 to 40 years. "Every year, they arranged picnics at different spots; this year they planned to go to Mahabaleshwar. They would have continued to the Rahuri centre for an education tour. They had applied to the college administration, citing they are on an education tour to get the college bus for their trip," said the official.Satara superintendent of police Sandip Patil said teams from Mahabaleshwar, Wai and Satara along with rescue workers rushed to the spot as soon as they got information about the accident. Around 150 youths from different trekking groups are helping in recovering the bodies."We have succeeded in recovering 14 bodies so far. Some bodies are crushed under the bus and it is difficult to remove them. There are chances of the bodies falling further into the gorge," said the police.(With inputs from Atul Deshpande)

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