A routine shopping trip turned into a tragedy on Sunday evening when a private travels bus collided head-on with an auto-rickshaw carrying eight Army jawans and its driver on the Kanhan river bridge. Two Army soldiers from Guards Regimental Centre (GRC) at Kamptee were killed in the mishap and three soldiers injured seriously in the horrifying accident. Following the accident, locals gathered at the spot and resorted to ‘Rasta Roko’ which temporarily disrupted traffic on Nagpur-Jabalpur Highway. Soldier Vighnesh succumbed to the injuries at Mayo Hospital while another soldier Dheeraj Rai succumbed to the injuries at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMC&H), where another critically injured soldier Nagaratnam, and auto driver Shankar Kharakban are also being treated. Both of them are on ventilator. Soldier Din Pradhan is also being treated at Mayo Hospital. Soldier Kumar P, Shekhar Jadhav, Arvind and Murugan are being treated at Asha Hospital in Kamptee and police said that Kumar P is critical.

 

According to police, two autos were ferrying 15 jawans from the GRC. They had gone for shopping on their day off. Two auto-rickshaws were returning to Kamptee when tragedy struck. Bus of Pawan Travels, coming from the opposite direction, collided with the auto-rickshaw and completely crushed it. The accident caused severe injuries to all passengers and the auto driver, Shankar Mittulal Kharakban (50), a resident of Kamptee. Eyewitnesses described the aftermath as chaotic and stated that the driver of the bus fled the scene immediately after the accident. Frustrated and enraged by the accident, local citizens gathered at the spot and launched rescue operations themselves. Some jawans were stuck in the crushed auto-rickshaw. They were rescued after efforts of more than 15 minutes, the eyewitnesses said. After the jawans were shifted to the hospital, the locals vented their anger by vandalising the bus and blocking the highway.

 

The police quickly responded to the situation and deployed a large number of police personnel. Commissioner of Police (CP) Dr Ravinder Singal also visited the spot and took review of the situation. The injured were rushed to Government Hospital in Kamptee, where initial treatment was administered. Those in critical condition where shifted to Mayo Hospital and later to the GMC&H. Senior officers from the Army Training Center also arrived at the hospitals to oversee the treatment of their personnel. The incident caused traffic disruptions on the Nagpur-Jabalpur highway for approximately one-and-a-half-hour before normalcy was restored by the police. The police have launched an investigation into the accident and are searching for the absconding bus driver Madhukar Vithhal Kale (60).