Many Puneites rose to the occasion to help the relatives of the injured and those who were killed in the accident on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway on Monday.
Twenty-seven people were killed and 26 others were seriously injured when a speeding truck rammed into a minibus near Khalapur toll plaza. Six of the injured who were treated in a private hospital in Panvel have been shifted to Pune.
Republican Party of India (RPI) corporator from Nagpur Chawl Siddharth Dhende said, “Yerawada doctors’ association has volunteered to treat the patients for free. Most of the patients were transported back to Pune on Tuesday.”
Dhende said that he would be requesting India Medical Association (IMA) to arrange for providing psychological counselling to relatives and survivors of the accident, besides seeking financial help for victims from the chief minister and the deputy chief minister.
Meanwhile, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) carried out the funeral of victims for free, besides waiving off transportation cost of patients and bodies.
The victims and other members of a marriage party were returning to Pune in four minibuses after attending the ceremony in Mumbai.
The accident took place near Dhamani village when two buses had stopped to repair a flat tyre of one of the buses. Passengers had alighted from the buses and were waiting on the road between both the buses. The majority of the victims were residents of Laxminagar in Yerawada.
