Two people died and three others were injured after an overtaking car crashed into a state transport bus, Shivshahi on Tuesday morning in Poladpur on the Mumbai-Goa highway in Mahad taluka in Raigad district, the police said. The deceased were going to their village in Sindhudurg to celebrate the Ganpati festival. However, they met with an accident around 9.15 am.
According to police, the accident occurred in front of the Poladpur State Bank when the car driver tried to overtake a vehicle and collided with the incoming ShivShahi bus. No one was reported injured on the bus. The Khed-Thane route of the state transport bus was going to Thane in Mumbai from Ratnagiri.
The deceased were identified as Jaywant Sawant, 60, a resident of Ambernath and Kiran Ghage, 28, a resident of Ghatkopar. The three injured were identified as Girish Sawant, 34, a resident of Ambernath, Amit Bhitale, 30, a resident of Badlapur, and Jayshree Sawant, 56, a resident of Ambernath.
“Sawant and Ghage died when they were being taken to a hospital in Poladpur. However, the three other injured were shifted to MGM Hospital in Kamothe in Navi Mumbai after administering the first aid at Rural Hospital in Poladpur, and their conditions are said to be stable,” said Yuvraj Mhaskar, a police inspector from Poladpur police station. He added that Girish was driving the car and he escaped with injuries.
“The car driver had taken the wrong lane to overtake a vehicle and crashed with the bus coming from the opposite direction,” he said. An FIR is being registered under the Motor Vehicle Act at Poladpur police station. He added that there was no injury to passengers on the bus and they were shifted to another bus.
Due to the bad condition of the Mumbai-Goa highway, the Sawant family was advised by their relatives to go via Kolhapur. However, as the distance to the village via Kolhapur is more, Sawant preferred to go via the old Goa highway, close relatives of the deceased informed police.
