THE Kevadia police on Sunday arrested the driver of a luxury bus that collided with another bus near the Statue of Unity site on August 24, injuring 20 tourists. Arvind Nayak, driver of the bus that hit another tourist bus from behind, was arrested. Haider Sheikh (22), driver of the overturned bus, stated in his complaint that he was ferrying tourists on his bus from View Point One towards Kevadia, when the other bus hit his vehicle from behind and overturned it. Arvind was booked under IPC sections 279 (Rash driving or riding on a public way), 337 (Causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (Causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and under relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act (1988). The two luxury buses collided and one of them overturned at Navagam in Kevadia colony, about 2 kilometers from the Statue of Unity. The incident occurred on Saturday afternoon when over 25,000 footfall was recorded at the site. Twenty passengers from both the buses were injured. While six of them were rushed to Vadodara Civil Hospital, around 90 km away, the rest of the injured were taken to the Garudeshwar Referral hospital for first-aid. “Eye witnesses told us that the buses were speeding and perhaps attempting to take a U-turn towards the Statue of Unity again. A crane had to be called in to lift the overturned bus," an official said. A press release from the state government said that Chief Minister Vijay Rupani announced full compensation for the medical expenses incurred by the injured. According to the release, Kinni Patel (18) from Vadodara, who was injured, was airlifted from Kevadia to Vadodara in a tourist helicopter stationed at SoU, for immediate treatment and thereafter airlifted to Ahmedabad. Meanwhile, all those injured were discharged Saturday night after preliminary treatment, apart from three injured — two of them are undergoing treatment in Ahmedabad, and one of them is undergoing treatment at the SSG hospital in Vadodara. However, the condition of all of them is said to be stable. The treatment expense is being borne by the Statue of Unity administration. On Saturday, the SoU recorded the highest number of tourist footfall since its inauguration in 2018. As many as 31,400 tourists visited the site on Saturday, surpassing the record of approximately 28,500 tourists on Diwali last year.
