Shivneri bus crashes into flyover on Sion-Panvel highway, 12 hurt

An inter-city state bus heading from Pune to Mumbai crashed into the edge of a flyover on Sion-Panvel highway late on Thursday night, injuring 12 people, including the driver.

While seven, including the driver, were discharged after treatment, five are still in hospital. There were around 20 passengers on board when the accident took place.

Those still in hospital have been identified as Ashutosh Gokhale, Ayesha Mujawar, Atik Faqih, his wife Seema Faqih and Nitish Sinha. Hospital sources refused to give any details of the patients but an official said, “All those admitted are out of danger. They have fracture injuries.”

The incident occurred around 11.15pm at Sanpada, when the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation’s (MSRTC) Shivneri bus was heading from Pune to Dadar. “The driver misjudged the start of the flyover as that part of the road was really dark and crashed into the wall at the start of the flyover. The bus fell on its side due to the impact,” said the bus conductor, requesting anonymity.

Suraj Padvi, senior police inspector of Sanpada police station, said, “Fortunately, there has been no loss of life. While some passengers suffered minor injuries, five are in MGM hospital in Vashi.”

“We have checked and confirmed that the driver was not under the influence of alcohol. We are investigating the accident further,” Padvi said.

2 more road accidents in Navi Mumbai

Two more road accidents were reported in Navi Mumbai in the early hours of Friday. Around 12.30am, an Ertiga car crashed into a truck on Turbhe-Vashi road, near the NMMT bus depot.

According to eyewitnesses, the truck was taking a right turn towards the APMC market, when the car came speeding down the Turbhe flyover and crashed into it.

N Shinde, traffic police official, said, “The car was damaged badly in the incident. However, the driver and his friend, who were in the car, escaped with minor injuries.”

In another incident, two cars were involved in a collision at Arenja junction in Sector 17 of Vashi, around 1am. No one was injured.