Prachi Mishra, Pune
In a gruesome incident that took place on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, 5 pilgrims died and nearly 43 others got injured in a road mishap. The accident took place around 1 in the morning of 16th July, when a bus, carrying 54 pilgrims, collided with a tractor.
The pilgrims, admirers of Lord Vitthal, were traveling in a luxury bus from Dombivli to Pandharpur for the auspicious occasion of Ashadhi Ekadashi on 17th July. But, their plans were disrupted when a tractor moving in the same direction suddenly tried changing its lane. This unanticipated move led to the clash of the bus with the tractor and it went down the slope, and fell into a 30-40 feet deep narrow valley, because of the huge impact.
The traffic on the Mumbai- Lonavala lane was halted for nearly three hours till the rescue operators arrived and took control of the situation. A crane was used to retrieve the bus from the gorge after which the traffic went back to normal.
People who suffered injuries were directly rushed to the nearest MGM hospital and Panvel Rural Hospital situated in Navi Mumbai to provide them medical attention, out of which five are still in a critical state. There has been no revelation of the identities of those deceased by the officials, though they confirmed that the authorities are working to provide compensation to the victims’ families, and Rs. 5 lakh monetary compensation would be given to them.
Further Investigations are still ongoing. Officials are focusing their scrutiny on how a tractor, which is a prohibited vehicle for an expressway, entered the accident spot. DCP Vivek Pansare and DCP Navi Mumbai Pankaj Dahane in a statement made to reporters said that the passenger bus was speeding which might have been the cause of the collision, when the tractor abruptly changed the driving lane.
Maharashtra Chief Minister, Eknath Shinde, visited the MGM Hospital to check on those injured. He provided consolation to the victims and their families by promising that the state would take care of the entire medical cost of their treatment. He even guaranteed that the critically injured would be shifted to the main city hospital if need be and assured the kins that all necessary aid would be provided by the government.