He's coming back, right? Bring him back: Dead victim's mother

Cops say the driver slept at the wheel leading to the accident PicsDilip JadhavldquoIrsquom missing Mayur Hersquos coming back right Bring him backrdquo A motherrsquos misgiving punctuates the silent grief that has enveloped Vile Parlersquos Shivaji Nagar lane No onersquos told her yet of the tragedy that has befallen the family but a mother just knowsThe speeding car crashed into a tree in Ratnagiri district on the MumbaiGoa highwaySeven families from the locality lost their sons to an illfated Goa trip yesterdayEight friends Prashant Gurav 31 Sachin Sawant 31 Mayur Belnekar 25 Kedar Todkar 25 Akshay Kelkar 24 Nihal Kotiyan 22 Vaibhav Manve 32 and Abhishek Kambli 19 set off in a Xylo from Mumbai around 1230 am and crashed into a tree near Khanu Pali Gaon Ratnagiri on the MumbaiGoa highway around seven hours later While seven of them were pronounced dead at the Civil Hospital in Ratnagiri Kambli is said to have sustained grievous injuries The group was to return on Sunday Efforts to shift Kambli to Sion Hospital were underway last nightRead Story Seven pals from Mumbai die on the way to GoaBodies crushedAnil Vibhute senior inspector of Gramin police station in Ratnagiri said itrsquos suspected that the driver Gurav fell asleep while speeding and drove into a treeSo mangled was the wreckage that two cranes besides locals had to be deployed to retrieve the bodiesVictim Mayur Belnekarrsquos mother was not told of the tragedy but knew something was amiss PicsNimesh DaveThe Gramin police will question a ninth friend from Mumbai who was supposed to join the gang in Goa ldquoHe took the train as there was no space left in the car We have summoned him for questioningrdquo said VibhuteHe said no liquor bottle was found in the carRatnagiri Superintendent of Police Pranay Ashok said an accident case has been registered and the victimsrsquo medical and postmortem examination reports were awaitedFamilies and friends of the youths wait for the bodies at Shivaji Nagar Vile ParleKindness knew no boundsThe friends who are also Shiv Sena supporters and workers had set off for a bit of fun before immersing themselves in the partyrsquos campaigning work for the BMC election ldquoThe trip was a break from all the hard work they had already put in They were excited about getting back to campaigning on full throttlerdquo said Anand Pathak a friend and coworker from Shiv Sena who had planned to go on the Goa tripAlso Read Triple seat joyride kills birthday boy friend on Lalbaug flyoverThe group had their meetings and gatherings at a small area amidst the densely packed houses of Shivaji Nagar ldquoThey used to come and sit here every day It will be hard to see the empty chairs nowrdquo said a woman shopkeeper who had her stall opposite the gathering spotThe youths were also part of a group Lakshya Foundation which has been taking people on annual trips to Shirdi at nominal rates for the last five years ldquoBeside their jobs they worked for the underprivileged such as volunteering at health camps and took senior citizens on Shirdi trips for as less as R110 per personrdquo said PathakWarned against taking carKshitij Rathod a close friend and neighbour of Sawant said he had warned the youths against driving to Goa ldquoI asked them to take a train instead But they wanted to drive in Akshay Kerkarrsquos brotherrsquos new Xylo I wish they had listened to merdquoHis mother recalled the youthsrsquo kindness and eagerness to help out the needy ldquoNone of us has been able to come to terms with the tragedyrdquoParag Alavani ward corporator said he hadnrsquot met the families since a number of them were still in the dark ldquoMy prayers are with the familiesrdquoPathak voiced the familiesrsquo grief ldquoThey are broken Their sole hope their only motivation to live has died The families survived on the money they the youths earnedrdquoA neighbour said most of the families had not been told of the tragedy as of last night including Belnekarrsquos mother ldquoWe just donrsquot have the heart to tell them yetrdquoThe funeral of the seven youths is at 9 am todayWith inputs from Chaitraly Deshmukh and Asif Rizvi