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As many as 30 persons hailing from Andhra Pradesh were killed and 16 injured when a private bus carrying devotees to Shirdi fell off a river bridge here in Central Maharashtra in the wee hours today.
The deceased included 16 women. Three of the injured, who were shifted to Solapur Civil Hospital, are in critical condition, police said.
The victims were proceeding to Shirdi in Ahmednagar district, which houses the famous Saibaba Temple, when the mishap occurred at 2:40 am near Naldurg town on the Hyderabad- Solapur Highway, they said.
A one-year-old boy miraculously escaped unhurt, while the driver of the ill-fated bus, G Yadgir, was injured and undergoing treatment in a hospital in Solapur, police said.
Osmanabad Superintendent of Police Dattatreya Karale confirmed the death of 30 persons in what is one of the worst road accidents in Maharashtra. The deceased were aged between 25 and 40 years.
The luxury bus, owned by Hyderabad-based Shree Kaleshwari Travels, had left for Shirdi last evening.
"The bus driver lost control and the vehicle plunged from the bridge and hit the bed of the river, which has very low water level," Ravindrasingh Pardeshi, Additional Superintendent of Police of Osmanabad, told PTI.
"The bus overturned at least twice after it hit the ground nearly 25 feet from the bridge," he said.
A young woman passenger, who was injured, alleged the driver was in an inebriated state. "We were sleeping... suddenly I heard a big sound and when I opened my eyes I found it was dark. Somehow, I managed to come out of the bus and went towards the road shouting for help, but no one stopped," she claimed.
