7 killed as truck crashes into bus

At least seven persons were killed after a truck from Rajasthan carrying coal turned turtle, allegedly due to over-speeding, and crashed into a State Transport bus on a ghat along the Mumbai-Goa highway in Ratnagiri district Wednesday morning.

A total of 45 persons were in the bus, out of which 30 suffered injuries, including five who sustained fractures. Another seven were killed. The deceased include: Prabhakar Shirsagar from Sawarde, Santosh Karzakar from Khed, Narayan Kulkarni from Devrukh, Rajaram Narayan Kulkarni from Devrukh, Bhaskar Kokate from Jakadevi, and Vijay Surve from Devrukh.

According to highway traffic police, the incident occurred at around 9.15 am at Nivali ghat on the Mumbai-Goa highway. The truck was moving towards Mumbai while the ST bus was headed in the opposite direction when the accident occurred at a sharp U-shaped turn. The bus was clambering up while the truck was coming down a steep slope where the driver was supposed to drive slowly but had surpassed the permissible speed limit on that stretch. Though there were signboards, there was no boundary wall and the truck turned turtle and crashed into the bus. The driver is from Rajasthan and has been arrested for causing death due to negligence.

Assistant police inspector from Ratnagiri highway traffic police division, Deepak Girkar, said the accident occurred due to over speeding. He added that the spot is accident-prone and this was the eighth and the first fatal accident there this year.

A police source also said they have made various recommendations including erecting a speed-breaker at the spot to the Public Works Department and the Centre.