13 admitted to Sion hospital

Ramesh Joshi, a Mahim resident, was asleep in the Goa- bound state transport bus when a loud noise woke him up on Thursday.

Ramesh Joshi, a Mahim resident, was asleep in the Goa- bound state transport bus when a loud noise woke him up on Thursday.

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“I was sitting on the left front side in the bus. It was too dark to see anything clearly, but when few people came to our rescue from the locality, the sight that I saw was horrifying,” said the 56-year old.

The bus had collided with another bus. The entire right side of the bus was completely crushed. “My close friend died on the spot,” said the government mint employee who was one of the injured brought to Sion Hospital.

The ST bus carrying 40 people was going from Mumbai to Goa when it rammed head-on into a Volvo at 2am. Three persons died while 26 others suffered severe injuries when the two buses collided on the Mumba-Goa highway.

Ramesh and 12 other members of his family were on their way to Kelashi Uttambar, a village in Dapoli in Ratnagiri district, for the ceremony observed on the day 13 for a diseased relative. “I am now hoping that my other five family members admitted in the hospital recover soon,” said Ramesh, waiting outside the casualty ward anxiously with other relatives.

Five people with minor injuries were discharged after the primary treatment.

“All severely injured are orthopaedic cases and most of them have suffered limb injuries. They are stable,” said Dr Vidya Mahale, assistant dean. Late evening, except the two patients in the emergency, all the remaining patients were shifted to the general ward.

“Where is my baby? Is he fine,” these were the first sentences spoken by Nisha Manave, 24, a Dapoli resident, whose right leg was severely fractured in the accident. Nisha was sitting in the third line behind the driver of the ST bus, the side that was badly crushed in the mishap.