In pics | Bus rams two cars on Pune-Mumbai expressway: 17 dead, over 30 injured

A bus, travelling from Satara, collided into two stationery cars on the side of the road, falling into a 20-foot ditch. More than a dozen were killed, though the toll is expected to rise.

Seventeen people died and over 30 were injured when a luxury bus veered off into a ditch after colliding with two stationary cars on the Pune-Mumbai corridor expressway early on Sunday morning.

More than a dozen people were killed in a major accident on Mumbai-Pune expressway near Sukhapur early on Sunday. (Bachchan Kumar/HT Photo)

The bus was travelling from Satara to Mumbai when it rammed into a Swift DZire and Toyota Innova that had stopped to the side of the road, near Shedung in Raigad, at around 5 am. The DZire car had been punctured and the driver of the Innova had stopped to help change the tyre when the accident took place.

The DZire car was completely crashed from the rear.

Thrown off course, the bus fell into a 20 foot ditch to the left of the highway.

Police, who were ensuring first aid had been administered, said their first priority was to take people to hospital after which they will begin investigations.

Injured were being treated at the MGM hospital Kamothe at Panvel in Navi Mumbai.

The death toll is also expected to rise as there were several grievously injured among those rushed to the hospital, police added.

(With inputs from agencies)