Nashik auto-bus accident: Death toll rises to 26, search operation called off

The rescue and search operation started soon after the accident near Umarane village at 3.30 pm on Tuesday. The Deola police, the regional transport office and local villagers joined in the 20-hour operation.

The death toll in Tuesday’s auto-rickshaw-bus collision in Maharashtra’s Nashik district rose to 26 on Wednesday morning. Authorities called off the search operation after the rescue teams pulled out bodies of two 2-year-old children – the youngest casualties in the accident.

Mangled remains of a bus which collided into an auto rickshaw , resulting in the death of 26 people, in Maharashtra’s Nashik district. (ANI)

The rescue and search operation started soon after the accident near Umarane village at 3.30 pm on Tuesday. The Deola police, the regional transport office and local villagers joined in the 20-hour operation.

“A team of national disaster management team from Pune called off the rescue operations around 11.15 am on Wednesday. The last body of a two-year-old boy was pulled out half hour before. The death toll has reached 26,” said Uttam Jadhav, regional transport office (RTO)inspector, Nashik.

Thirteen women were among those killed when a state transport bus plying from Malegaon to Deola crashed into a six-seater rickshaw in a head-on collision. Both the vehicles plunged into a 60-feet well. There were 42 passengers in the bus and the auto was carrying 10 people.

“At least 32 injured persons are admitted at Deola rural hospital and Malegaon hospital. The police teams are coordinating with the family members of the victims,” said an officer from Deola police station.

The police have informed families of victims that all the bodies are at Deola hospital except for a 30-year-old woman who was rushed to Malegaon Hospital.