In a tragic incident, as many as 33 employees of an agricultural university were killed, when a private bus in which they were travelling for a weekend picnic to the hill station of Mahabaleshwar, plunged into an 800 feet deep ravine in Ambeneli ghat in Raigad district in coastal Konkan region around 10.30 am on Saturday.
The ill-fated bus, while negotiating the Ambenelli ghat section near Poladpur, skidded on the piled up wet mud on the road and fell into a deep gorge.
In all, there were 34 passengers on the bus and were employees of Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth (BSKKV) at Dapoli in Ratnagiri district.
Only one person — identified as Prakash Sawant Desai — survived the accident. A Deputy Office Superintendent at the BSKKV, 55-year-old Desai, jumped out of the bus, as it went down the ravine, and climbed all the way up to the road from where the vehicle had plunged.
Till late in the evening, the Raigad Police and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams from and hikers-trekking groups from Mahabaleshwar had recovered 17 bodies and the operation was continuing well past 10 pm.
“The rain and fog conditions are impeding the body recovery operation. Braving the obstacles, our team members from Pune are continuing the operation,” a senior NDRF official said.
Eyewitnesses said police and NDRF personnel located the bus in a badly mangled position, with no passenger trapped inside it.
With heavy rain lashing the area all through the night, there was inclement weather with drizzles and fog condition when the driver of the bus lost control after the vehicle slid on the wet mud accumulated on the road and before he could realised went down the deep gorge.
Mourning the death, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendrsa Fadnavis said, “The administration is making all efforts to provide required assistance. Senior officials and emergency management systems are in place. My thoughts are with families who lost loved ones and prayers for speedy recovery of injured.”
The Maharashtra Government announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh each of the bereaved families.
Raigad’s Guardian Minister Ravindra Waikar and Minister of State for Agriculture Sadabhau Khot were among those who rushed to Raigad to co-operate the operation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “Pained by the loss of lives due to a bus accident in Maharashtra’s Raigad district. My condolences to those who lost their loved ones.”
Congress president Rahul Gandhi said he was sorry to hear about the terrible bus accident in which a large number of people have been killed. “I appeal to Congress Party workers in the area to provide all possible assistance to the injured and families of those who have died,” Gandhi tweeted.
Officials at the BSKKV said for several years now the employees of BSKKV have been undertaking picnic during the fourth weekend of a month after the paddy sowing season.
Incidentally, it was the sole survivor Desai who tipped off police about the accident.
Recalling the circumstances leading to the accident, Desai said, “Everything was normal when set out from Dapoli at 7.30 am on our picnic. The varsity employees were enjoying the journey. Many of them were taking photographs of the ghat section and forwarding them to their friends.... The bus skidded on wet mud on the road and went down the gorge.
“After jumping out of the bus, I saw some trekkers and used one of their mobiles to call university officials and police,” Desai said.