Rampage on Mumbai roads as BEST bus crashes into divider in Borivali, second in 24 hours

Mankhurd bus accident: Driver vs BEST officials

A 62-year-old man, who was on his way to meet his daughter in Pune, died and 10 others were injured after a BEST bus rammed into a divider in Mumbai’s Mankhurd.

While the bus driver, Banvari Shriram Prasad Sharma who was also injured in the Mankhurd accident, blamed the accident on brake failure, the BEST officials have told The Indian Express that the bus appeared to have no technical glitches.

“An autorickshaw suddenly swerved in front of the bus. I applied the brakes, but they did not respond as expected,” Sharma said, adding that contract drivers are assigned different buses every shift, making it difficult to assess each vehicle’s condition beforehand.

Contradicting his statements, a senior official said, “The bus was in sound mechanical condition prior to the accident. From a cursory glance, it appears the driver lost control of the vehicle.”

The two bus crashes in Mumbai came days after a BEST bus struck a 63-year-old man in Bhandup and rammed into parked vehicles. In June, another BEST bus crashed into multiple vehicles, killing a 28-year-old Swiggy delivery executive.

In the past two years, more than 50 people have died in BEST-related accidents, prompting the transport undertaking to tighten vehicle inspections and driver monitoring.