Hyderabad, June 16: In a ghastly road mishap, at least 30 devotees
were killed and more than 16 others injured, some of them seriously, when a
private travel bus fell off a bridge near Jakot village in Osmanabad district
in Maharashtra on Sholapur-Hyderabad highway in the wee hours of Saturday.
According
to reports reaching here, the mishap occurred at around 2.30 am when the bus
was heading towards Shirdi Saibaba Temple in Ahmednagar district from Hyderabad
on Friday night. The bus belonged to Sree Kaleswari Travels from Lakdikapul at
least 43 passengers were on board at the time of mishap including 14 employees
of Tata Consultancy Services and seven passengers from Guntur.
The
injured have been shifted to Solapur and Osmanabad civil hospitals. The
identities of deceased are yet to be ascertained.
Chief
Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has expressed shock and grief over the incident
and has directed Chief Secretary Pankaj Dwivedi to help the injured. Kiran Kumar Reddy also called Maharashtra
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chawan over telephone and asked him to provide all
medical assistance to the pilgrims, who were seriously injured in the mishap.
Earlier,
the Chief Minister convened a meeting with revenue, transport and medical
officials over the accident. He directed the Transport Department chief secretary
to file a case against bus driver of Sree Kaleswari Travels for negligent
driving which was responsible for the mishap.
Meanwhile,
a team of medical and government officials led by Civil Supplies Minister D
Sridhar Babu left for the spot to help the injured and to coordinate with the
Maharashtra State officials. "We need to get more details about the
accident and number of casualties," the officials said.
The
state government also set up two helpline centres to provide information over
passengers to family members and relatives. The helpline numbers are
02472-222700 and 02472-222900.
Meanwhile,
anxious family members of the victims rushed to the office of the travel agency
which was operating the bus at Lakadi-ka-Pul here to find out the condition of
their relatives.
- INN
