Beed: Five persons were killed on the spot when their car collided head-on with a Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bus at Shindewadi crossroads in Majalgaon tehsil on Sunday morning.
Police said the accident took place around 11am on the Khamgaon–Pandharpur National Highway, about 55 km from the district headquarters.
According to police, the victims, all residents of Majalgaon, were travelling towards Tuljapur in neighbouring Dharashiv district when their car crashed into an oncoming state transport bus. The impact left the car mangled, killing all five occupants instantly.
The deceased have been identified as Omkar Mahadev Giri (24), Gajanan Mahadev Namdas (38), his son Samarth alias Mauli Gajanan Namdas (11), Somnath Bade (23) and Anil Acharya (40).
Preliminary CCTV footage showed that the car driver lost control while attempting to manoeuvre around potholes at high speed on a bridge, leading to the head-on collision with the oncoming bus, an official said.
The bodies were sent to Majalgaon Rural Hospital for post-mortem examinations.
The tragedy triggered public anger over the deteriorating condition of the Majalgaon-Telgaon stretch. Protesting residents alleged that substandard construction and poor maintenance had left deep fissures and uneven surfaces along the highway, turning the arterial route into an accident-prone stretch.
Following the crash, residents of Shindewadi, Pathrud and nearby villages staged a ‘rasta roko’, demanding immediate road repairs and urgent safety measures. The protest brought traffic on the national highway to a standstill for several hours. Senior police and administrative officials later arrived at the scene, pacified the protesters and restored traffic flow.
Police have registered a case, and further investigation is underway.
