Pune: Three persons were killed and two children injured after a car collided with a private bus on the Pune–Nashik highway late Sunday night, police said.
The accident occurred around 11.15 pm near the Indraprastha petrol pump at Eklahare village in Ambegaon tehsil. A speeding car allegedly crossed the divider on a bridge slope and rammed into an oncoming bus, leaving the vehicle mangled, killing three occupants on the spot.
The deceased were identified as Mallikarjun Ambegave, 42; his wife Aarti Ambegave, and Lata Tuplondhe, residents of Valherkarwadi in Chinchwad. Two children, Mrunal Ambegave and Prem Ambegave, were injured and are undergoing treatment.
Shrikant Kankal, police inspector at Manchar police station, said preliminary findings indicate that the car, travelling from Nashik towards Pune, veered across the divider into the opposite lane, leading to a head-on collision.
An FIR was registered at Manchar Police Station in the early hours of Monday based on a complaint filed by bus driver Raju Chatru Rathod, 38, of Nandurbar. Further investigation is underway to determine the exact cause of the crash, police said.