30 Devotees Killed In Shirdi Bus Accident

In a ghastly road mishap, at least 30 devotees were killed and more than 16 others injured, some of them seriously, when a private bus fell off a bridge near Jakot village in Maharashtra's Osmanabad district, on the Sholapur-Hyderabad highway, in the wee hours of Saturday.

According to reports reaching here, the mishap occurred at around 2:30am, when the bus was heading towards the Shirdi Saibaba Temple in Ahmednagar district from Hyderabad, on Friday night. The bus belonged to Sree Kaleswari Travels, a bus service that starts in Lakdikapul.

At least 43 passengers were on board at the time of the mishap, including 14 employees of Tata Consultancy Services and 7 passengers from Guntur.

The injured have been shifted to Solapur and Osmanabad civil hospitals. The identities of the deceased are yet to be ascertained.

Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy expressed shock and grief over the incident, and directed chief secretary Pankaj Dwivedi to help the injured.

Kiran Kumar Reddy also called Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chawan over telephone, and requested him to provide medical assistance to the pilgrims who were injured in the mishap.

Earlier, the CM convened a meeting with officials of the revenue, transport and medical departments, about the accident. He directed the transport department's chief secretary to file a case against the bus driver of Sree Kaleswari Travels for negligent driving.

Meanwhile, a team of medical and government officials, led by civil supplies minister D Sridhar Babu, left for the spot to help the injured and to coordinate with the Maharashtra state officials.

"We need to get more details about the accident and number of casualties," the officials said.

The state government also set up 2 helpline centres to provide information about passengers to family members and relatives. The helpline numbers are 02472-222700 and 02472-222900.

Meanwhile, anxious family members of the victims rushed to the office of the travel agency which was operating the bus at lakdikapul, to find out the condition of their relatives. (INN)