13 killed, 3 injured as minibus plunges into Panchganga river

Passengers were returning after ritual for nine-month-old boy; vehicle hit bridge’s railing and fell into river

Relatives of the deceased at the Balewadi crematorium on Saturday evening. (Express photo by Pavan Khengre)

Thirteen people were killed and three injured as the mini bus they were travelling in plunged into the Panchganga river from the Shivaji bridge in Kolhapur on Friday. The deceased included 12 from a Pune-based family and the bus driver. The family had gone to the temple town of Ganpatipule for a ritual and the accident took place while they were returning to Pune via Kolhapur.

The deceased have been identified as Santosh Baban Warkhade (45), Gauri Santosh Warkhade (16) and Dnyaneshwari Santosh Warkhade (14), all residents of Pirangut, Sachin Bharat Kedari (34), Nilam Sachin Kedari (28), Sanskruti Sachin Kedari (8), Sanidhya Sachin Kedari (nine months), Sahil Dilip Kedari (14), Bhavana Dilip Kedari (35), Shravani Dilip Kedari (11), Chhaya Dinesh Nangare (41), Pratik Dinesh Nangare (14), all residents of Balewadi Gaothan, and Mahesh Kuchekar of Hinjewadi, who was driving the minibus.

Prajakta Dinesh Nangare (18), Manisha Santosh Warkhade (38) and Manda Bharat Kedari (54) have suffered injuries.

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According to the police, Sachin Kedari ran a travel business in Pune and deceased Chhaya Nangare and injured Manisha Warkhade are his sisters.

The minibus being lifted from the Panchganga.

In the early hours on Friday, 15 persons from the Kedari, Warkhede and Nangare families, left Pune for Ganpatipule for a religious ritual for Sanidhya. They visited the temple town and were returning to Pune in the private minibus they had hired. Around 11.45 pm, when the bus was on Shivaji bridge, the driver is suspected to have lost control of the vehicle and it rammed into the railing of the bridge over Panchaganga river.

The barrier broke in the impact and the bus fell into the river, about hundred feet below.

Soon, local residents rushed to the spot and little later, police teams also reached.

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The fire brigade and a team of “White Army” of Kolhapur-based activists also joined the rescue teams. With the help of boats, the bodies and the injured were fished out of the river and taken to a hospital early on Saturday.

Senior police officers, along with Chandrakant Patil, the guardian minister of the district and M P Dhananjay Mahadik visited the accident spot and said administrative help was being provided to the families.

Patil announced an immediate financial help of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of the deceased.
An offence was lodged against bus driver Kuchekar at the Karveer police station in Kolhapur.

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