A private bus owned by Chintamani travels had a head-on collision with a heavy vehicle on his way to Mumbai from Yavatmal in Vidarbha. Around 12 people lost their lives and 43 people got injured in the accident.
The accident took place on the Nashik-Aurangabad road near Mirchi hotel signal on Saturday. The collision initiated massive fire in the bus. As most of the passengers including women and children, were asleep at that time, they failed to make an emergency escape. Sources suspect explosion of diesel tank of the truck during the collision might have resulted in fire.
Chandrakant Pulkundwar, commissioner, Nasik Municipal Corporation (NMC) said, “Locals are complaining about encroachment, which was taken up by Guardian Minister Dada Bhuse in a meeting with the CM. Encroachments will be removed immediately. Secondly, a District Road Safety Committee meeting will be headed by District Collector on Monday. NMC, RTO and Police Department will attend this meeting to give their opinions and suggestion. Approval to construct new speed breakers will be given by the committee soon.”
Guardian Minister of Yavatmal district, Sanjay Rathod informed media, “I have spoken to the collector of Yavatmal and Nasik. As per information, there were 45 passengers on this bus. When the bus left for Mumbai from Yavatmal, it had the permitted count but investigation will have to be carried out to see if the driver and bus conductor allowed more passengers to board the bus enroute. Action will be taken against anyone at fault.”
Ramrao Suryavanshi, 59, a resident of Chaufuli said “Ever since this bypass connecting Nashik highway was constructed more than a year ago, there have been frequent accidents. There are encroachments on the entire stretch, no proper divider, no speed breakers etc. My son and I often rush to help victims and send survivors to the hospitals,” So they opt for identification of this area as black spot.
An injured passenger narrated, “My wife and I were sleeping when the collision happened. We were startled and scared! When we looked outside we saw smoke and petrol or diesel. Somebody shouted, ‘jump from the window’ and many of us did just that to save our lives. As soon as I managed to jump after my wife, the bus was set ablaze. I am still not out of shock thinking we could have been one of those who could not escape and died.”