11 bus passengers among 13 killed in Dhule accident

NASHIK: Thirteen people were killed when a speeding container collided head-on with a state transport (ST) bus near Nimgul village in Shindkheda taluka of neighbouring Dhule district at 11.30pm on Sunday. Eleven of the 13 dead were bus passengers, including three women and a 14-year-old boy. The drivers of both vehicles were also killed.

The Dondaicha police said the impact of the collision was such that the container ripped into the right side of the bus. All the victims were residents of Dhule and Nandurbar districts. The bus was going from Aurangabad to Shahada in Nandurbar district. It had left the Dhule bus terminus around 9pm and was hit by the container just 20km from its destination.

The police said 38 bus passengers were injured, of whom 12 are in a critical condition. The injured have been admitted to private hospitals as well as the civil hospital in Dhule.

Imran Rashid Isani, one of the bus passengers who suffered injuries on the head and cheek, said he heard a deafening sound as the container hit the bus. "I was sitting in the rear of the bus and was thrown off my seat. Passengers were screaming and wailing. Some of them were lying on the floor motionless," he said.
Local villagers rushed to the accident site and began pulling out passengers from the bus. The local police, ambulances and ST officials also reached there and began shifting the injured to hospital.

The transport utility distributed monetary compensation of Rs 10,000 each to the families of the deceased and Rs 1,000 to each of the injured. It has promised to reimburse all medical expenses.

The immediate family of the deceased will be given Rs 10 lakh after verification.