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People gather at the site of the bus accident in Ratnagiri on Tuesday. (AP)
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Mumbai, March 19: A speeding private bus on the Goa-Mumbai route plunged 40ft to a dry riverbed early this morning, killing 37 passengers most of whom were asleep.
Passengers said the driver had lost control of the bus, which fell off a bridge on the two-lane NH17, a highway infamous for accidents, to the Jagbudi riverbed near Khed in Ratnagiri district.
“The bus left Madgaon in Goa at 6.30pm. The accident occurred around 3.30am. The driver was driving rashly and was also speeding. None of the passengers, however, had complained about it,” said Sheikh Alam, 31, a Mumbai resident returning from a business trip to Goa. He suffered a hand fracture and was admitted to a hospital in Khed.
Eighteen people, including the driver and a Russian national, were injured, district officials said.
“Prima facie the incident may have occurred as the bus was speeding and the driver lost control on the narrow bridge on the highway. We have sent his blood and urine samples for examination. It will be clear whether he was under the influence of alcohol while driving,” said Ratnagiri SP Deepak Pandey.
Victims with critical injuries were shifted to hospitals in Mumbai and Chiplun in Ratnagiri.
The accident was one of the worst on the Mumbai-Goa highway, which has seen 828 people killed and 2,411 injured in crashes in the past three years, Maharashtra home minister R.R. Patil told the Assembly.
Among the dead was Miranda Fernandes, a 25-year-old returning to Mumbai after a holiday with her husband Alwin. “I don’t remember anything about the accident. We were sleeping,” Alwin said.
The 54-seater non-AC bus was one of many for overnight travel on the route with tickets priced at Rs 700-900.
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