One person was killed and 13 others were injured when a container truck rammed into a Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bus around 1.30 a.m. on Thursday near Panvel on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.
The MSRTC bus carrying 17 passengers was heading to Mumbai from Satara. The bus left Satara on Wednesday evening and was scheduled to reach Parel depot on Thursday. However, when the bus reached near Kon Gaon in Navi Mumbai, the truck rammed it and pushed the vehicle a few metres ahead.
The right side of the bus was crushed in the collision, killing Ganesh Ramdas Kadam (36), a native of Satara, on the spot. Kadam, who is survived by his wife, was a bus driver with the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport undertaking. He was returning to Mumbai to resume work after spending Deepavali with his family, a police officer said.
The driver of the truck drove away without stopping to help. The highway traffic police and the local police reached the spot and rushed all the injured to MGM Hospital.
The Panvel Taluka police have registered a case of rash driving and causing death by negligence against the truck driver after Jagannath Kisan Raut (48), the driver of the MSRTC bus, filed a complaint. Mr. Raut and three passengers — Shyamrao Shivaji Khawale (45), Santosh Uttam Patekar (49), and Shobha Santosh Patekar (41) — have sustained serious injuries and are undergoing treatment.
On Thursday evening, the police detained the truck driver. “We have detained him and are interrogating him to ascertain whose mistake caused the accident. We will take action against the people responsible for this accident after conducting a proper investigation,” senior police inspector Ravindra Daundkar, from the Panvel Taluka police station, said.
