A family of seven were holidaying in the hill station just 80 km from Mumbai and were swept away by the gushing waters. Only two of them managed to swim back. Three bodies have been recovered so far and the search and rescue op will resume at daybreak tomorrow.

Terrifying visuals of the family's last minutes showed them standing on a rock in the middle of the rhapsodic falls, holding on to each other and hoping to move against the tide and onto the land.

The bodies of a 36-year-old woman and two girls, aged 13 and 8, were found in the backwater of Bhushi Dam in Lonavala on Sunday. A search is ongoing for a nine-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl.

Hundreds of tourists throng this hill town during the monsoons, the family went picnicking at the waterfall near the backwaters of the Bhusi Dam this afternoon. Heavy rains in the region since early morning caused the dam to overflow, increasing water flow in the waterfall.