10 dead as mini-bus hits truck near Nashik
KALYAN : Ten people died and 14 were injured in a road accident, on Thursday morning, at Sogras Phata on the Mumbai-agra National Highway near Nashik.
A group of sanitation workers and their family members were returning from the Omkareshwar, Mahakaleshwar pilgrim in Ujjain district, Madhya Pradesh.
The incident took place, when the mini-bus they were travelling in, rammed into a truck around 5.30am.
Of those injured, nine were taken to a private hospital nearby and four to the sub-district hospital. According to the Nashik police, three of them have been severely injured and are under treatment.
“The dead bodies of the 10 people have been sent to Kalyan. The three, who were severely injured are still admitted in a private hospital at Nashik. The process for registering a case against the bus driver is underway,” said Sanjay Darade, superintendent of police, Nashik.
He said that the truck was carrying sand and one of its tyres got punctured and hence it was parked at the side of the road. The bus driver lost his control and rammed into the truck.
The incident came as a shock for other sanitation workers of the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC), who were awaiting their arrival.
Atleast 40 families of sanita- tion workers live near the water tank, Subhash Maidan, next to KDMC headquarters in Kalyan (West). The entire locality is mourning the unfortunate death.
“The workers, along with their family members plan a visit to holy places every year. This year, they decided to visit Ujjain and accordingly 21 of them left for the trip on June 4. We have not informed their family members about the tragic incident yet, as we are awaiting confirmation,” said Vinod Chavan, 50, a sanitation worker of KDMC.
Local political leaders visited the residential area of the workers and inquired about the incident. KDMC Mayor Vinita Rane also rushed to the hospital, where the injured were admitted. However, the workers claimed that the civic body’s officials neither visited, nor inquired about the incident.