Speeding bus jumps lane, kills 4 on BRT

“The bus ripped the mini bus apart. It is a miracle that seven people were recovered from the wreckage alive.” The “miracle,” as a police officer chose to describe the accident that claimed four lives including two BSF personnel’s, took place around 11.15 p.m. at the BRT bus corridor in southeast Delhi on Sunday night.

“The bus ripped the mini bus apart. It is a miracle that seven people were recovered from the wreckage alive.”

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The “miracle,” as a police officer chose to describe the accident that claimed four lives including two BSF personnel’s, took place around 11.15 p.m. at the BRT bus corridor in southeast Delhi on Sunday night.

A speeding chartered bus reportedly jumped lanes and hit a bike, a scooter and a bus that had BSF personnel on board. Seven BSF personnel and two civilians were injured.

The private bus hit the vehicles with such massive force that the Swaraj Mazda in which the BSF team was travelling was transformed into scrap metal, the police said.

The tourist luxury bus owned by Lajpat Nagar-based Panja Saheb Transport Company and driven by Balwant Singh, 30, was travelling on the motor vehicle lane of the BRT corridor towards Moolchand after having crossed Chirag Dilli when the accident occurred.

"He was speeding near Krishi Vihar and Siri Fort when the bus lost control and jumped over the kerb side dividers of the bus lane and ran into the motor vehicle lane located on the other side of the road,” the police officer said on the condition of anonymity.

“It then hit the Swaraj Mazda belonging to the BSF that was coming from Siri Fort and moving towards Chirag Delhi.”

The police are now waiting for Singh's discharge from the AIIMS trauma centre before they can arrest him on charges of rash and negligent driving and culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The police have clarified Singh wasn't drunk when the accident occurred. The police said before hitting the BSF vehicle that was returning from Meerut, the private bus first hit a scooter and a motorcycle.

Jumping lanes is one of the biggest problems the BRT corridor faces.

“We do take action against violators. Enforcement is done to the maximum. But people have this tendency of violating traffic rules, which sometimes turns fatal,” said Satyendra Garg, joint commissioner of police (traffic).