Maha: 12 dead, 23 injured as mini-bus hits container on Samruddhi Express

At least 12 people were killed and 23 others injured when a speeding minibus hit a container in the wee hours of Sunday on Samruddhi Expressway in Maharashtras Aurangabad districtPTI reported that 35 passengers were traveling in the busQuoting officials the report said the accident took place at around 1230 am in Vaijapur area of the expressway in the district located nearly 350 km from Mumbai he said The bus driver lost control of the wheels As a result the bus hit the container from the rear side the official saidAccording to initial reports all of those traveling in the vehicle are said to be residents of Nashik district in Maharashtra and were heading to Sailani Baba for darshanPrima facie the minibus was overloaded news agency PTI reported It had the capacity to carry 17 people but nearly 35 passengers were traveling on it an official from Vaijapur police station told PTI Twelve passengers were killed The deceased include five men six women and a minor girl inspector Shyamsundar Kavthale from Vaijapur police station saidA control room of the Samruddhi Expressway received a call about the accident through the RTO at 1207 am An assistance team and ambulance reached the location in a few minutes an official from the Samruddhi Expressway control room told PTIAlso readBuldhana road tragedy Road hypnosis one of the causes of accidents on Samruddhi ExpresswayThe bus driver claimed he saw the truck in front of his vehicle suddenly before the accident The truck driver has been detained he saidSome locals alerted the police about the accidentThe accident took place on the first lane from the crash barrier side where the vehicles are supposed to move at a speed of 80 km per hour The minibus collided with the truck on the first lane from the road shoulder We had to cut a part of the minibus from the drivers side to bring people out of the vehicle an official from the expressway control room saidThe deceased have been identified as Tanushri Solse 5 Sangeeta Aswale 40 Panjabi Jagtap 38 Kajal Solse 32 Rajani Tapase 32 Hausabai Shirsat 70 Zumbar Gangurde 58 Amol Gangurde 18 Sarika Gangurde 40 Milind Pagare 50 Deepak Kekane 47 all from Nashik and Ratan Jamdade 45 from Vaijapur in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar the police saidOn July 1 2023 25 people were charred to death on the highway after a private bus caught fire after colliding with a road dividerThese accidents have been occurring since the expressway was partially opened in December last yearA report then said road hypnosis a condition where drivers zone out and have no recollection of what occurred during that time has been identified as one of the causes of these accidentsSince December there have been 39 fatal accidents and a total of 616 minor and major accidents on the NagpurMumbai expressway resulting in 656 injuriesOverspeeding drivers falling asleep at the wheel and tire bursts are among the primary reasons for these accidents The highway police are working to address the issue of road hypnosisIn Maharashtra as a whole a staggering 15224 people lost their lives in road crashes in 2022 The recent tragic incident on Saturday resulted in 25 passengers being charred to death after the private bus they were traveling in collided with the divider and caught fire in Buldhana districtCurrently the NagpurMumbai Samruddhi Mahamarg is operational on a 601kilometer stretch from Vidarbhas largest city to Bharvir in Nashik spanning a total of 701 kilometers With inputs from PTI