Pune: Nine people were injured as a private bus went off the Pune-Mumbai expressway and fell into a 20ft deep trench after being hit by a truck carrying poultry near Khopoli in the Khandala ghat section around 3am on Thursday. Three of the injured were travelling in the truck and sustained severe injuries. They were admitted to a private hospital at Kalamboli in Raigad district.
The remaining six injured were travelling on board the bus and were treated at a private hospital in Kamothe. A case of accident was registered with the Khopoli police. Preliminary investigation revealed that the accident occurred after brakes of the truck, police said.
An officer from the Khopoli police said the accident happened on the Pune-Mumbai corridor of the expressway. "The luxury bus was going to Mumbai from Sangola in Solapur district. There were 10 passengers in the bus.
The truck carrying poultry was also headed in the same direction," he said. The officer said that when the bus reached Khopoli in the Khandala ghat section, the truck hit it from the rear. "The bus driver lost control because of the impact and veered off the expressway, falling into the trench and turning on its side," he said.
A team of Khopoli police and local rescue teams reached the spot. Gurunath Sathlekar of the local rescue team told TOI, "We rescued all the passengers and the driver from the bus. Six of them were taken to Kamothe, while five persons with minor injuries were taken to the govt hospital in Khopoli.
The.
