Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: A Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bus bearing registration number MH40 S 1726 and carrying 51 passengers from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar to Nipale on Sunday was navigating the serpentine bends of the Outram Ghat. Some passengers were admiring the mountain scenery, others were dozing off, and some were engrossed in their mobile phones. Suddenly, as the bus neared a gorge thousands of feet deep, the steering wheel went limp. The driver quickly slammed on the brakes; passengers were flung forward against the seats with a loud thud. In a heart-stopping moment, the bus crashed into an iron pole and a tree at the edge of the valley, narrowly averting a major tragedy.
The bus departed from the CIDCO bus stand towards Surat at 9am on Sunday. At around 1pm, it reached the Outram Ghat. Suddenly, the steering failed. The bus veered to one side, coming to a halt right at the edge of a valley, with a vast, deep gorge below. The air was filled with the screams of passengers, the wailing of small children and terrified cries.
Driver Subhash Namdev Palal (45) said, “This ghat section is dangerous, so I had already kept the speed low. When the bus was just a metre away from the gorge, the steering suddenly went limp. The vehicle was being pulled towards the gorge. I lost control and was terrified. I slammed on the foot brake, causing all the passengers to lurch forward and hit the seats in front of them; panic-stricken screams erupted. The bus scraped against the safety barrier along the gorge but did not stop. The barrier was only about one and a half to two feet high. At that moment, I also engaged the handbrake. The passengers were once again flung against the front seats. The bus struck a sturdy iron highway pole and an old tree. The bus got wedged against that tree. All of this happened in a mere 30 seconds.”
The front portion of the bus had already slid towards the gorge; had it moved even slightly further, a major tragedy would have occurred. Fortunately, due to sheer good luck, the bus got wedged against an iron pole and a tree. Terrified, the passengers managed to escape safely through the windows, thereby saving their lives. Some passengers sustained minor injuries in the incident; a few received treatment at a hospital in Chalisgaon, while Aarohi Kulkagond was referred to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar due to more serious injuries.
