Mumbai: In a tragic incident, seven MBBS students, including the son of a BJP legislator died early on Tuesday after the car in which they were travelling fell into the Bhadari river near Selsura village in Wardha district, about 77 km from Nagpur. According to Wardha Superintendent of Police Prashant Holkar, the seven students died on the spot.
Police said they were returning from neighbouring Yavatmal district after celebrating a birthday party when one of them who was at the wheel, lost control and rammed into a bridge. The SUV fell into the river and was crushed to a pulp by the impact of the crash.
According to police, villagers had revealed that the student who was driving the SUV is believed to have swerved to avoid hitting a wild animal that apparently came in front of the vehicle. The SUV then fell into a ditch under a culvert.
All the deceased were students of the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, said the OSD of the Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr Abhyuday Meghe.
One among the deceased students was Avishkar Rahangdale, 22, son of Vijay Rahangdale, the BJP MLA from Tiroda in Gondia district. The other deceased were identified as Niteesh Singh, Vivek Nandan, Pratyush Singh, Shubham Jaiswal, Niraj Chauhan and Pavan Shakti. One of the deceased was a medical intern. Of the remaining six, two each were studying in the final year, third year and first year,” police said. All the bodies were later sent to the Wardha civil hospital for post mortem.
Senior district officials and Lok Sabha MP Ramdas Tadas and MLA Pankaj Bhoyar rushed to the spot.
“College authorities have informed the parents of the students about the tragedy,” said Ravi Meghe, the registrar of the college.
President of India Ram Nath Kovind tweeted, “Deeply saddened by the untimely death of students of a medical institute in a road accident near Selsura in Maharashtra. I extend my heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and wish the injured a speedy recovery.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the deaths of the students and announced Rs 2 lakh each from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) for the families of those who lost their lives in the accident. “Pained by the loss of lives due to an accident near Selsura in Maharashtra. In this hour of sadness, my thoughts are with those who have lost their loved ones. I pray that those injured are able to recover soon,’’ he said in a tweet which was released by PMO.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar also condoled the deaths.
Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis also expressed grief over the deaths
.
