Vidyapeeth staff en route to a Rahuri college had made bookings in Mahabaleshwar resort
Rescue officials recover the body of a deceased staff member
The 30 staff members of the Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, who died after their bus fell into a 800-foot-deep gorge in Ambenali Ghat near Poladpur, were not supposed to be there.
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But in a twist of fate, they probably decided to go to Mahabaleshwar before going on a study to Rahuri, and took the road. According to the district collector, the trip was meant for wheat research at a college in Ahmednagar. The police have found they had made bookings at a resort in Tapola, Mahabaleshwar.
The sole survivor of the accident, Prakash Sawant Desai, assistant superintendent at the vidyapeeth, said the driver had turned to look at them when the bus fell into the gorge. "Someone cracked a joke, we all laughed and the driver turned to look at us. One moment we were laughing, and the next, we plunged into the gorge," said Desai.
Dr Vijay Suryawanshi, district collector, said, "At 12 pm on Sunday, we managed to bring all the bodies out. The sole survivor was in shock, so he'd said 34 were in the bus. But the institute's registrar gave us the correct number."
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