Pune accident: Holiday gone wrong for family; mother dies, young daughter has ‘miraculous escape’

Nisha’s last rites will be conducted in Kolhapur and her daughter Athira will be shifted to a hospital there.

Pramod Bhaskar breaks down as his wife Nisha Bhaskar is declared dead at Sassoon hospital. Four people have lost their lives in accident at Jambulwadi. (Express photo by Arul Horizon)

Listen to this article

Pune accident: Holiday gone wrong for family; mother dies, young daughter has ‘miraculous escape’

00:00

1x 1.5x 1.8x

Four-year-old Athira and her mother Nisha, 36, were excited about their trip to Mumbai’s Dombivli from Kolhapur. With summer vacations having started, both were on their way to visit Nisha’s mother. On Saturday night, the two waved goodbye to Nisha’s husband Pramod Bhaskar before setting off.

Former corporator from Kolhapur Niyaz Khan, a friend of the family, said, “At around 4.30 am, I got a call from a friend about a girl Athira who had survived an accident on the Pune-Bengaluru highway. The girl said her father’s name was Pramod and lived in Shastri Nagar in Kolhapur.”

Fearing the worst, Khan and Pramod rushed to Sassoon Hospital in Pune where the bodies of the four who died after a truck hit a private bus at Jambhulwadi in the early hours of Sunday were taken. Several of those injured in the tragedy on the Mumbai-Bangalore Highway were also rushed to this hospital.

On arrival, Pramod realised that his worst fears had come true. Nisha had been brought dead to the hospital. The only consolation was that Athira, the couple’s only child, had survived with a fracture on her left leg and was admitted to the casualty ward. “It was a miraculous escape for Athira,” said Khan, who is “a long-time friend of the family”.

“The police said the girl was trapped inside the mangled remains of the bus for almost 15 minutes with smoke and fire. The rescue team took time to cut open the steel frame when they realised that she was alive. Once in the hospital, Athira could only manage to say her father’s name and their locality,” Khan said, adding, “One of the rescuers at the accident site knew me through my political connections and called me in the morning.”

Soon, Nisha’s brother and mother reached the hospital from Mumbai. At Sassoon Hospital, a distraught Pramod was helped by others to complete the paperwork for his deceased wife. The 41-year-old, who works for a micro-finance company, married Nisha in 2016.

“The last the family spoke to each other was at 12.30 am when they discussed dinner and the journey. This is a shock which can’t be expressed in words. Within a few hours, the whole family collapsed,” said Khan.

“Initially, we didn’t tell Nisha’s mother that her daughter is no more, only that she was under treatment,” Khan shared. According to the family members, Nisha’s last rites will be conducted in Kolhapur and Athira will be shifted to a hospital there. The girl had just started going to play school, they said.