Panaji, Jul 29 (IANS): Four bodies were retrieved from Zuari river in Goa into which an SUV carrying four passengers fell following which a rescue operation was launched to trace the vehicle and its occupants, the police said on Thursday.

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 the divers of the Navy were pressed into service.

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

The bridge is located on a 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 IANS.

Police said that one 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.