4 dead as bus crashes into trailer near Kosamba

Surat: Four persons, including the driver of a private luxury bus, were killed and 14 others suffered minor injuries when their bus crashed into a container trailer from the rear near Kosamba on NH8 at around 4am on Sunday.
The injured were rushed to the New Civil Hospital and in private hospitals in Surat, 50km from the accident site.

Among the dead, two persons were identified as Dashrathsinh Barot, 22, a native of Tharad town in Banaskantha district of north Gujarat and Champalal Jat, 22, from Barmer in Rajasthan. Two others who died during treatment were identified as Rahul Rajpurohit, 30, from Jhalore and Kavraram Jat, 42, the bus driver. Barot had recently shifted to Mumbai for work, police said.

The bus of Marudhar Travels was on way to Jaipur and had started from Mumbai Central at around 7pm on Saturday.

At around 4am, when the bus reached Siyalaj near Tulsi Hotel, the driver rammed the vehicle in the container trailer going in the same direction. Police said that he had either dozed off or lost control due to high speed.

Rakesh Barot, a native of Tharad in Banaskantha and cousin of deceased Dashrathsinh, said, “It was a deafening noise as the bus crashed into the trailer. The impact was so bad that I felt all of us would die. Those sitting beside me were injured. Some passersby called 108 emergency ambulance and we were taken to hospitals in Surat. I was treated at Unity Hospital in Parvat Patiya for my injuries in my back and left leg.”

Barot has lodged a complaint with Kosamba police in this connection.