39 city pilgrims killed as bus falls into valley

NASHIK: Thirty-nine pilgrims from the city were killed when their bus went off the road at a hairpin bend and cartwheeled 150 feet down a valley at Vani, 60 km off Nashik, on Sunday night. Sixteen men, 19 women and four children were the victims.

The overcrowded bus - the 54-seater was carrying 81 people - had left the Vani temple at around 10 pm and was going down the ghat road when the driver lost control, police said. Those killed were residents of Kasturba Gandhi Nagar in Worli and of Byculla. By 11 pm on Monday, 21 bodies had been brought back home. Twelve of those killed were from the same family.

The pilgrims were part of a tour organised by the Worli-based Sai Baba temple, which hired a luxury bus from Lucky Travels. They had left on Friday night to visit Shirdi, Shani Singhapur and Vani shrines and were on their way back when the bus broke through the safety rails and plunged down the valley coming to rest against some boulders. The impact broke the vehicle into three.

The driver jumped to safety and reached a hospital at nearby Abhona for treatment. Police arrested him from there.

“We were watching a film based on Sai Baba when suddenly I felt the bus going out of control. Before I realised what was happening, I was thrown out of the bus. I think the bus cartwheeled at least thrice,” said Deepak Chavan, a survivor.

Hearing the cries and shouts of the survivors, some youth from Nanduri, the village at the bottom of the valley  rushed for help. They contacted Abhona police who alerted the fire brigade, civil defence and other agencies.

“The deep valley, the pitch dark and the winter cold made rescue operations very difficult,” sudivisional officer  Mahesh Patil said. “We first got the searchlights to locate the bodies and the injured. Stretchers had to be brought down at least 150 feet in the darkness.”