Five killed in bus collision at Khadki

The Pune-bound luxury bus of Shreeyash travels was not carrying any passengers. The luxury bus which was at high speed and was on the wrong side of the road hit the right portion of the ST bus. The ST bus was going to Thane from Tasgaon of Sangli district.

The driver of the ST bus died on the spot, while passengers at the rear seats received grievous injuries. The iron bars of the luxury bus ripped straight through the portion of the ST bus. While the six seats in the front position were completely damaged, the roof of the bus was torn apart. The front portion of the luxury bus was also damaged. The luxury bus driver Navnath Arjun Khilare was in a serious condition.

According to the police, they and the doctors at the hospital suspected that the driver had consumed alcohol. The driver had dropped a marriage group at Junnar around 2 am and then left for Pune.

Several passengers who were trapped inside the ST bus could not be rescued immediately as both the buses got stuck with each other. A mobile van of the police which was first to receive the message of the mishap rushed to the site to rescue the victims. Some of the passengers seated at the back also helped the victims. The luxury bus was separated from the ST bus after it was pushed by a truck.

Three members of the Mali family hailing from Thane were killed in the mishap. The victims include Sanjeevani Yashwant Mali (30), her 11-year-old son Ganesh and eight-year-old daughter Pooja. The ST bus driver Narayan Bhagwan Kharat (45), a resident of Lonand in Khandala Taluka in Satara district, who was killed on the spot, had taken over the bus at the Swargate depot. A 13-year-old boy Shailesh Vitthal Pawar was also killed in the mishap.

The injured who are receiving treatment at the Sassoon hospital include driver of the luxury bus Navnath Khilare (35), a resident of Narayangaon in Junnar taluka, Jagannath Balu Parale (45), Yeshwant Ganpati Mali (36), Kavita Kishore Hankare (27), Lata Vitthal Pawar (35), Manasi Mukund Kulkarni (29), Shivaji Kedari Nikam (30), Vitthal Sadashiv Pawar (45), Yeshwant Pandurang Pawar (18), Vishal Vitthal Pawar (11), and Ashok Dashrath Hankare (27). Twelve others who were injured were discharged from the hospital.

The three-seater autorickshaw operators helped the police in carrying the victims to the hospital after they were removed from the bus. The victims were also moved to the hospital in rescue vans. Meanwhile traffic on the highway had to be diverted via Khadki bazaar for nearly two hours.

One of the passengers, Padmakar Kulkarni, hailing from Kalyan who received treatment at the hospital said that most of the passengers were asleep when the mishap took place. Another passenger Manasi Kulkarni said that the Mali family was seated just behind the driver. The ST bus had left Khatav at 7.30 pm and had no room for any passengers when it arrived at the Swargate depot at around 2.30 am. It left the Swargate depot around 2.55 am.

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