Shock,disbelief & frayed tempers

One shocked bystander who saw the scene unfold before his unbelieving eyes was Dr Nizamuddin Mulla,a doctor with the emergency medical services unit at Ruby Hall Clinic.

He was at Pulgate,on his way to work,when he saw 10-year-old Rashi and her father Pinkesh Khandelwal,who were on a bike,getting hit. The doctor rushed them to hospital. Pinkesh,who was a resident of Aranyeshwar,was declared dead on arrival at Sassoon general hospital.

“Such was the impact,that the father and daughter fell down from the bike. I called an ambulance. Instead of waiting,I decided to move fast and took them in a vehicle to Sassoon General Hospital casualty,” says Dr Mulla.

Dr C Thakur,surgeon at Sassoon,immediately took charge and tried in vain to revive Pinkesh.

“We performed a surgery on Rashi who suffered multiple fractures. She is critical and it will take another 72 hours before she can be declared out of danger,” Thakur said.

Most of the injured suffered head and chest injuries and bone fracture and doctors can declare them out of danger only after 72 hours of observation. Three patients are said to be critical among the 11 admitted to Sassoon General Hospital.

Tempers were frayed at the hospital as relatives of the dead demanded justice. “The culprit should be hanged,but we know nothing will happen,” Sonali Tikone a relative of forty-six-year old Ankush Tikone who died in the incident.

Ankush,who was a resident of Mahesh Housing Society at Bibvewadi,was employed with Tej courier services and travelled every day from Akluj to Pune. On Wednesday morning,he was at Swargate when he was knocked down by the bus,said Chandrakant Tikone,his elder brother who stays in Daund.

Chandrakant was at the mortuary to take the body to Akluj. Ankush’s colleagues Sanjay Digambar and others recalled how he was a hardworking person. He is survived by his wife Seema and two children.

At Jehangir Hospital,Nitin Bhandari wept for his recently married daughter Shweta Oswal,(28). “Only this morning she had gone to visit a hospital at Swargate and this was the end,” he sobbed.

Shweta,a resident of Kalyan society Timber Market Road,was hit by the bus around 7.45-8.00 am. She was brought to Jehangir Hospital at 10.00 am in a critical condition. She had suffered internal injuries and had fractures. She was shifted to the ICU and operated upon. She succumbed to internal injuries at around 2.30 pm,doctors at the hospital said.