PUNE, Oct 13: State transport bus driver Maruti Seetaram Shinde (45) from Kolhapur was killed on the spot and 35 persons injured when the bus plunged 150 feet deep in a valley at Kamshet, about 45 km from here on the Mumbai-Pune highway, early on Tuesday morning.Thirty-five seriously injured, including conductor Bajirao Yashvant Jadhav (45) from Mumbai and police constable from Nehrunagar police station, Mumbai, Dinkar Shripati Dhom (35), have been hospitalised.The high-speed bus, going to Mumbai from Battis Shirala, was overtaking a vehicle dangerously when the mishap took place. The bus hit iron railings and nosedived in the valley.All the bus passengers suffered multiple fractures as they were tossed around during the bus plunge. They were rescued by policemen who rushed to the spot from nearby Kamshet outpost. Some youths travelling by other bus also helped in rescuing the trapped bus passengers. The vehicular traffic was disrupted for nearly half an hour. The injured were shifted to a private hospital in Kamshet by an ambulance summoned from Kanhe Phata and a state transport bus plying on the road.Sixteen seriously injured passengers were shifted to the general hospital at Talegaon Dabhade. Two critically injured, constable Dhom and a man whose identity could not be ascertained, were shifted to a private hospital in Chinchwad. The accident spot has been an accident-prone area because of the sharp turn on a steep incline. Many a time, drivers, who tend to overtake, ram into the iron railings along the road on the curve. In a similar mishap, a state transport bus had plunged into the valley at the same spot about three years back.
