Four killed in head-on collision between SUV and ST bus on Kalyan-Murbad Road

The accident occurred at a sharp turn in the ghat section of the Kalyan-Murbad Road, close on the heels of another fatal accident on April 13 on the highway that killed 11 people, raising serious concerns about motorists’ safety

THANE: Four members of a family lost their lives, while four others from the same family sustained serious injuries on Tuesday morning when the SUV they were travelling in crashed head-on into a State Transport (ST) bus around 60 kilometers from Kalyan.

The accident occurred at a sharp turn on the Kalyan-Murbad Road

The accident occurred at a sharp turn in the ghat section of the Kalyan-Murbad Road, close on the heels of another fatal accident on April 13 on the highway that killed 11 people, raising serious concerns about motorists’ safety.

The deceased were identified as Abhishek Bhanudas Mote, 35, who was driving the Scorpio; Avinash Ramchandra Kakde, 52, Mina Kalpana Madke, 51, and Nita Ashok Dure, 52, all residents of Ahilyanagar. They were travelling with four other family members, who were injured in the accident, to visit a sick relative in Dombivli while the ST bus was enroute to Ahilyanagar from the Kalyan depot.

Shital Kumar Naik, senior police inspector of Tokawade police station, said the accident occurred at a sharp turn, where motorists often failed to notice vehicles approaching from the opposite direction.

“In Tuesday’s incident, the car driver, who was reportedly speeding, could not see the oncoming ST bus in time, leading to a head-on collision. The impact of the crash was so severe that four SUV passengers got thrown out of the vehicle and died on the spot, and the front portion of both vehicles was completely mangled,” Naik said.

Those injured were Monika Mote, wife of the deceased driver Abhishek Mote; their son Vedant, 4, and daughter Aaradhya, 13; and Manisha Kohol, 64, a relative of the deceased. All of them are recuperating at Aayush Hospital in Kalyan and are out of danger barring Aaradhya who is critical, with severe head injuries.

Naik further said that since the condition of the Kalyan-Ahilyanagar Road had improved, and vehicles travelled at greater speed. “But the ghat stretch still has multiple sharp curves and blind spots, making it highly accident-prone. Motorists should exercise caution while driving on this route,” he said.

On April 13, a cement mixer collided head-on with a black-and-yellow Eeco taxi on the same road, resulting in the death of 11 passengers. The collision was so severe that the taxi was completely crushed, making it difficult to even remove the dead bodies.