Vadodara: The joy of relishing pani-puri turned into a tragedy for two young brothers who died after being hit by a staff bus of a private company, which veered out of control after the driver suffered a mild heart attack and hit as many as vehicles on the Padra-Jambusar highway on Tuesday.
The bus driver lost control over the vehicle while passing by Fulbaug junction on the highway. The driver coming from Dabhasa first brushed his bus with a parked truck and then mowed down the two children identified as Vishal Sonone (14) and his six-year-old brother Golu.
Police said the brothers were walking back to their home in Padra town after eating pani-puri at a roadside kiosk when the speeding bus hit them
When their father Ramesh learnt about it, he rushed to the accident spot and the unconscious boys were taken to a government hospital in Padra. However, they were declared dead on admission.
After hitting the children, the bus rammed a parked sedan car and a scooter before injuring a woman named Asha Godadiya who was selling clothes on the roadside. The driver, who apparently failed to apply the brakes, then jumped the bus over the divider and crashed the vehicle with two bikes parked outside a garage.
Godadiya suffered minor injuries on her legs. Ramesh told police that when he reached the accident site, the bus driver had escaped from the spot.
The bus is owned by a private travels company in Vadodara and was used as a staff bus for a company in Padra taluka. An offence of rash driving and causing death due to negligence was registered at Padra police station.
Padra-Jambusar road has turned into a killer highway in the district as it has claimed many lives in the past too. Connecting several industries with Padra and Vadodara, the highway is a busy road throughout the day. Locals have demanded several times that the highway be broadened to four-lane from existing two-lane, but there has hardly been any development regarding this.