The death toll in the collision between State transport bus and an autorickshaw in Nashik district on Tuesday, rose to 26 by Wednesday.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), which was called in to help, called off the rescue operation on Wednesday morning.
The accident occurred in the Meshi Ghat in Deola tehsil on Tuesday evening, when the bus collided with an autorickshaw in front of it and both vehicles fell into a deep well by the side of the highway. Local police and fire brigade reached the spot within the hour and started rescuing the occupants of the vehicles.
An NDRF team of 30 personnel was dispatched from its Pune base and reached the spot around 1.15 a.m. on Wednesday.
“The local authorities had already removed both vehicles by the time we got there. However, they were having trouble locating the victims who were still underwater as they did not have deep water divers. We pressed our divers into service and found one victim,” Deputy Commandant Sachidanand Gawde, NDRF, said.
He said the water in the well was pumped out and NDRF personnel again entered the well.
“We found an infant’s body, which was stuck under the debris that had fallen into the well along with the two vehicles, around 10 a.m. on Wednesday. We then conducted a final search, confirmed that everyone was accounted for, and called off the operation,” Mr. Gawde said.
The deceased include 14 men, 10 women and two minor girls, who were twin sisters. Their mother, too, died in the accident. Besides, 32 injured victims are being treated at various government hospitals in Nashik.
Meanwhile, the Deola police said preliminary inquiries have found that the bus driver, who was among those who died, was at fault.
“Inquiries till now indicate that he was trying to overtake from the wrong lane at high speed and ended up hitting the autorickshaw in the process. We are in the process of posthumously booking him under the Indian Penal Code and the Motor Vehicle Act,” police inspector Suhash Deshmukh, Deola police station, said.
