Journalism of Courage
Sixteen people were charred to death and 52 injured,six of them critically,when two private buses collided head-on at a blind corner near Mehkar in Buldana district early morning on Monday and burst into flames on impact. The Royal Travels Pune-Nagpur bus (MH30 AA6006) and Saini Travels Nagpur-Pune bus (MH31 CD 5169) collided around 3.30 am near Chincholi-Bore about 4 km from Mehkar. Nine of the dead,including two drivers and a conductor of one buses and a driver of the other,were identified in by evening. Late in the evening,the remaining bodies were also identified.
According to police,the critically injured are now out of danger. Travellers in vehicles that followed the buses informed Mehkar police who reached the spot along with personnel from neighbouring police stations.
Buldana Deputy Superintendent of Police Kalpana Baraokar and Mehkar MLA Sanjay Raimulkar also reached the spot for rescue operations. A number of local volunteers and organizations joined them to help extricate passengers and take them to hospital.
Police Inspector S J Patil of the Local Crime Branch told Newsline,The mishap was apparently caused when the driver of Saini Travels tried to avoid a ditch while negotiating a turn and suddenly found the Royal Travels bus coming from the opposite direction.
Patil added,The turn is a kind of a blind corner. You cant see vehicles coming from the opposite direction properly.
Many passengers escaped the fire jumping out of windows. Most of the panes were smashed by the impact, Patil said.
Among the deceased identified were four members of the Bhalerao family from Shirpur Jain in Akola district who were charred to death. Two died even as they tried to escape. Among them was driver of Saini bus,Iqbal Baig of Nagpur. The other was Sabir Khan Wahab Khan of Shirpur Jain, Patil added. Meanwhile,Pratap Aidasani,proprietor of Royal Travels,confirmed that their two drivers who steer the bus alternately,Sunil and Amol Misal,besides conductor Rupesh died in the mishap. The critically injured are admitted to Ghati Hospital in Aurangabad,Patil said.
The list of dead
Police have identified all the 16 bodies but gave names of 14 as the names of the remaining two were yet to be cross-checked and ascertained. Two of the dead,Vijay Rambhau Padole and Alka Vijay Padole,are from Pune. The others are Sachin Anilrao Gadilkar,Ketaki Kamalnath Shete,Chandrakant Shankar Maralkar from Nanded,Amol Shantinath Dhaware from Ahmednagar,Umesh Madhukarrao Katankar from Amravati,Iqbal Babeq from Nagpur,Vijay Bhagwan Bansode from Badnera. Police said the list will need to be verified medically on Tuesday. These nine were identified late on Monday evening. The other seven,including two drivers of one bus and a driver of another,besides a conductor were already identified by late afternoon.
