Mumbai/Buldhana: A Nagpur-Pune AC sleeper coach bus of Vidarbha Travels met with a fatal accident on the Samriddhi Highway in Buldhana. After the accident, 26 passengers died as the bus caught fire, while eight passengers narrowly escaped. After this, political leaders from various parties have expressed grief over the accident. Former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has also expressed his grief.
“A bus met with a terrible accident on the Samriddhi highway in Buldhana, killing 26 people. This is heart-wrenching. Such accidents have continued on this highway for the last one year. So far, more than 300 passengers have died. The government has not planned any measures to prevent accidents. At least the accident in Buldhana should open the eyes of the government. I pay my respects to the unfortunate souls who lost their lives in the accident.” Uddhav Thackeray expressed such sentiments.
After the accident, some passengers were screaming for help by hitting the glass of the rear window of the bus. But other motorists passing by did not stop to help, eyewitnesses claimed. Due to the fire, it was not possible for the passengers to break the glass from inside. But some have also claimed that if the passing trucks and tempo drivers had stopped and helped break the glass with their iron rods, the death toll would have been less.
It is also claimed that the injured passengers who came out after the accident asked for help, but the trains did not stop. At the back of the bus, a woman with her baby was banging her hands on the glass begging for release, but before our eyes they were burnt to ashes, said one of them.
The accident bus was an AC sleeper coach of Vidarbha Travels. This bus left Nagpur for Pune at 5 pm on Friday. A total of 33 people were traveling in the bus. This bus left Nagpur at 9:30 pm and left for Pune after taking a lunch break at Karanja. A total of 14, six women and eight men from Sawangi Bypass in Wardhya, eight from Nagpur and three from Yavatmal were in the bus.
