As many as 11 passengers lost their lives while around 25 sustained serious injuries when the Shivshahi Bus they were travelling in overturned near Khajri village of Sadak Arjuni tehsil in Gondia district on Friday at around 12.15 pm. As per details given by a police official, MSRTC Shivshahi Bus (MH 09/EM 1273) started from Bhandara depot for Gondia via Sakoli, Lakhni and Sadak Arjuni. It had around 40 passengers and driver Pravin Raipurkar and conductor Nitin Mate. According to eye-witnesses, the driver, in an attempt to overtake a vehicle on a narrow bridge over nullah on Khajri-Duggipaar Road, lost control over the steering, and the bus heading in great speed, overturned. People, who saw the accident, rushed to rescue passengers.

 

On getting information, police team from Duggipaar Police Station led by PI Mangesh Kale also reached the spot and helped passengers in coming out of the bus. Collector Prajit Nair, Superintendent of Police Gorakh Bhamre, Additional SP Nityanand Jha, SDPO Vivek Patil (Deori) also reached the spot and monitored the rescue work. Officers also arranged to shift injured passengers to Primary Health Centre and Rural Hospital in Sadak Arjuni and to District Genearl Hospital in Gondia. Dean Dr Kusumakar Ghorpade, Dr Prashant Turkar, Dr Gaurav Agrawal and their team took started treatment on injured. Bus driver Pravin Raipurkar and conductor Nitin Mate also sustained injuries and are undergoing treatment. GMCH Dean Dr Kusumakar Ghorpade informed that total 11 passengers died in the accident while about 25 passengers have been admitted to the hospitals in Gondia, Sadak Arjuni and Goregaon.

 

On getting information, MLA Vinod Agrawal, former MLC Rajendra Jain, ex-MLA Dilip Bansod also paid visit to hospitals and took stock of the situation. MLA Agrawal arranged to shift a five-year old boy to a private hospital. He spoke to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, informing them about the accident and its gravity. Later, Chief Minister Shinde announced administrative aid of Rs 10 lakh each for the deceased and all assistant for the treatment of the injured passengers. Prime Minister Modi also announced an aid of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of each deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured. The deceased include Smita Vicky Suryawanshi (32), a resident of Arjuni Morgaon, Mangla Rajesh Lanjewar, Rajesh Deoram Lanjewar, both residents of Pimpri (Bhandara district), Kalpana Ravishankar Wankhede (65), Anjira Ramchand Kanoje (65), both residents of Warora in Chandrapur district, Ramchandra Kanoje (65), a resident of Chandori in Sakoli tehsil, Arifa Azhar Ahmed (42), Azhar Ali Syed (45), both residents of Ghoti in Goregaon, Naina Vishal Mitkari (35), a resident of Besa in Nagpur, Prakash Humne (55), a resident of Kumbli in Lakhandur tehsil, while the identification of one deceased was yet to be established. The injured include Dhruvika Swapnil Hemne, Swapnil Subhash Hemne, Vidya Pramod Gadkari, Bhargavi Rajesh Kadu (all residents of Nagpur), Teena Yeshwant Dighore (Somalpur), Naitik Prakash Chaudhari (Kamptee), Shrikrishna Ramdas Uikey (Kosi), Sharda Ashok Chauhan (Nagpur), Pallavi Prakash Chaudhari (Kamptee), Laxmi Dhanraj Bhajipale (Gondia), Ravishankar RAmchandra Wankhede (Warora),Sanjay Netram Dighore (Chingi) and others. Due to the accident, traffic on both sides of the busy road remained disrupted for around 2 hours. Police pressed a crane into service to lift the bus and clear the road. Duggipaar Police have registered offence under relevant sections against the bus driver Raipurkar and started probe. 

 

 

Smita Vicky Suryawanshi (32), a resident of Arjuni Morgaon was also among those killed in the accident. Smita’s husband was in the Police Department and passed away a couple of years back following ailment. In the place of her husband, only a few months back, Smita got the job in the Police Department on a compassionate basis. She was posted at Police Headquarters in Gondia. After the death of her husband, she was living with her in-laws and a son. She had come on vacation to meet her family and was returning back in the ill-fated Shivshahi bus to resume the duty. From Arjuni Morgaon she had went to Sakoli, from where she had boarded the bus which met with an accident. The news of her death, spread pall of gloom in the region.