33 feared dead in an accident near Mahabaleshwar

NP NEWS NETWORK

Satara

A mini bus carrying 34 passengers met with an accident on Saturday morning near Mahabaleshwar-Poladpur road. It is believed that bus fell into the valley 250 feet below. The primary information is that 32 passengers are feared dead in this accident .

31 employees of Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth including two drivers are feared dead. Police have found 12 dead bodied till now.

As it was the last Saturday of the month and Sunday’s holiday, a bus carrying the staff of Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth were going for a picnic to Mahabaleshwar. The bus fell in a 800-ft deep valley in Ambenali Ghat near Poladpur and has stucked at 250ft, connecting Konkan’s western Maharashtra.

As per the reports, all the passengers included men. One of him named Prakash Savant Desai, Assistant agricultural teacher saved his life by jumping out of the bus as soon as he smelled the danger. As per his statement, “the driver got the call just before the accident and as he approached to take the call, he lost his control from bus and it fell down.”

Prakash Savant Desai called the Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth and informed them about the accident. The bus has stucked in the valley at the height of 250-ft. All them had left at 6.30 in the morning of Saturday.

Local MLA Bharat Gogavale said, “The place has been confirmed as non-accidental point so there is probability that this accident has occurred because of driver’s mistake.There is information that few people were stucked on the trees. All the passengers except one are feared dead in this accident. Rescue operation is going on without any problems as there is no rain showring in this area.”

Dead bodies of all the deceased will be handed over to the families after post-mortem. Those who died were included teachers, Ph.D. students and some clerk. There was no one around when this accident took place thus it could not be informed on time.

Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth’s staff has left to the spot. Relatives of the deceased has arrived at the spot.

Pravin Randive, employee of Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth said, “I got call and was informed about the accident. I also had planned to go on this trip but because of weak health, it was cancelled at last moment. They had stopped in Khed for a breakfast. I got a last text message on 9.30am. Today also at around 6.30am, I was asked to join them.”

Pravin is the employee in same department where the Prakash Savant Desai is working.

Those who had went for this trip included junior and senior clerks, superintendent. Many of them were not married. They had planned for this yearly trip just before the day of this accident.

Assistant superintendent Prakash Sawant Desai is the sole survivor from 34