The incident took place between 5 am and 6 am on Sunday, when the victims were travelling from Dapoli to Satara. The vehicle, which had departed from Harne in Dapoli at around 2 am, went missing during the journey, prompting relatives to initiate a search later in the day before approaching the police after no contact could be established.
Police officials stated that the SUV was eventually traced through its last known mobile tower location near Poladpur. During a search operation in the Ambenali Ghat stretch, the wreckage was discovered in a deep gorge on Monday morning.
Authorities suspect that the driver lost control of the vehicle in the hilly terrain, causing it to plunge nearly 1,500 feet into the gorge. The severity of the impact led to a delayed recovery operation, with the vehicle only being located hours after the incident.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed deep grief over the loss of eight lives and confirmed that rescue operations were being conducted on a war footing. In an official statement, he said the eight friends were on a trip when the fatal accident occurred.
District authorities immediately launched rescue and relief efforts and constituted five teams, each comprising seven members, to recover the bodies. Three bodies had been recovered at the time of reporting, while efforts continued to retrieve the remaining victims with the assistance of the National Disaster Response Force and voluntary rescue teams.
According to officials, one of the deceased was from Ratnagiri district, while the remaining seven were residents of Satara district. The Raigad and Satara police departments coordinated closely throughout the ongoing rescue operations.
The deceased have been identified as Ritesh Lokhande (22), Suhas Lokhande (20), Utkarsh Shingte (21), Nikhil Shingte (25), Mahesh Pawar (25), Aditya Salunkhe (21), Rajesh Katkar (35), all from Satara, and Ansh Chavan (19) from Ratnagiri.
Chief Minister Fadnavis described the incident as extremely tragic and conveyed heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families, stating that he shares their grief. Authorities continue recovery operations in the difficult mountainous terrain as the state responds to one of the region’s most severe road tragedies.
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