'Bus involved in Samruddhi Expressway accident was less than 4 years old'

MUMBAI: The private passenger bus that met with an accident early on Saturday in Maharashtra's Buldhana district, in which 25 passengers were charred to death, was less than four years old, an official of the state transport department said.

The accident occurred at Pimpalkhuta village near Sindkhedraja on the Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Expressway around 1.30 am. A total of 33 persons were on board the vehicle, of whom 25 were killed, while eight others survived, police said.

Additional Transport Commissioner J B Patil, who is also chief of the Maharashtra Road Safety Cell, told PTI that the Regional Transport Officer of Amravati RTO already reached the accident site and by this evening the department will submit its primary probe report about the accident after inspection of the bus and the location.

Apart from this, the District Road Safety Committee will also inquire into it and suggest necessary action. Deputy Transport Commissioner (Road Safety) Bharat Kalaskar has been asked to review the entire situation, he said.

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''As per the records, the sleeper coach bus was registered three years and five months back. Records are being checked if the bus had a valid fitness certificate, insurance, permit and other documents,'' Patil added. Sources said the bus was registered on January 24, 2020. Its fitness certificate bus is valid till March 10, 2024, permit till December 22, 2025 and insurance till October 26, 2023. However, the pollution under control (PUC) of the bus expired on March 10, 2023.

A senior transport department official said the reason behind the accident could be momentary loss of concentration on the part of the bus driver, due to which the bus directly hit a pole at a high speed before falling on its right side. The impact of hitting the pole was so severe that the front axle of the vehicle was broken, he said. Sources from the transport department said the bus rammed into a road divider on the highway after its one of its front tyre burst and fell on the diesel tank side. The leakage of fuel and sparks produced due to friction while the bus was getting dragged could have triggered the fire.

On October 8 last year, 12 persons, including a two-year-old child, were killed and 43 injured after a Mumbai-bound private sleeper bus they were travelling in hit a trailer truck and caught fire in Nashik.