33 varsity staffers killed as bus falls into gorge in Maha
PUNE: At least 33 non-teaching staff members of an educational institution based in Maharashtra’s Dapoli town were feared dead on Saturday when the bus carrying them on a study tour skidded and plunged into an 800feet gorge One person miraculously survived the accident .
The accident, whose cause was yet to be ascertained, took place off Ambeni Ghat in Raigad district at around 11.30am, according to the police.
The victims were from the Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth . University registrar Ketan Chaudhary said the non-teaching staff from the agricultural engineering department were headed for a study tour to the Regional Wheat Rust Rese-arch Station in Mahableshwar. “This was partly an outing and partly a study tour and such visits by university teams happened frequently,” a university empl-oyee said. Assistant superintendent in the agricultural engineering department Prakash Sawant Desai was the lone survivor.
He jumped out of the falling bus and was caught in a tree. An
MAHARASHTRA injured Desai climbed up the gorge and called for help on a mobile phone.
“One person was thrown off the bus and survived to tell what happened,” said police inspector Balkrushna Jadhav of Raigad police. Raigad district collector Vijay Suryavanshi said the 34 people on board the bus included two drivers who were also employees of the university.
The lone survivor, Desai, said mud and loose stones on one particular stretch of the road caused the bus tyres to skid. “The bus veered to the left and fell into the gorge before we could understand what was happening. Trees arrested the fall someway down. I had managed to jump out in time. I climbed my way up somehow,” he said. Two employees who were supposed to join the group opted out at the last moment due to other engagements. The depth of the gorge made the rescue work difficult.