Luxury bus crashes into Shiv Shahi bus; 35 injured

PUNE: At least 31 members of a family, including 21 women and a child, were injured when a bus carrying them back from a wedding celebration in Mahableshwar rammed

PUNE: At least 31 members of a family, including 21 women and a child, were injured when a bus carrying them back from a wedding celebration in Mahableshwar rammed into an on-coming Shivshahi bus of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) at Pasarni Ghat near Nagewadi Phata on the Wai-Mahableshwar road in Satara District.

HT Image

The accident took place about 90 km from Pune on Monday at 12.30 pm. Four persons were critically injured in the accident, Wai police said.

The Shivshahi bus was going down the ghat when the private luxury bus coming from the opposite direction rammed into it leading to the accident, police inspector Anandrao Khobare of Wai police station said.

The impact of the accident was such that the private bus turned turtle and fell off the road. The private bus had passengers from Pune onboard and were on their way to Pune after visiting Mahableshwar for a marriage function. Wai police said that a major tragedy was averted as the luxury bus did not fall into the gorge and had almost reached the road’s edge giving passengers jitters.

The private bus belonged to Chandranil Tours and Travels, Phaltan bearing registration number MH 11 AL 5999 and had gone to Mahableshwar for wedding celebration of a family when the its driver lost control over the wheels and crashed into the Mumbai-Mahableshwar Shivshahi bus bearing number MH 06 BW 3675.

At the time of the accident, an official meeting of the Panchayat Samiti for the Mandhardevi Yatra was underway which helped the policemen and commuters to provide immediate relief to the accident victims police said.

Khobare said that a large number of onlookers had gathered to see the accident and police had a tough time asking them to leave the spot to carry out swift rescue and relief operations. “A case of rash and negligent driving has been lodged,” he said.