Mumbai Horror: Reversing BEST Bus Mows Down 4 In Bhandup; Driver Arrested

13 minutes ago

In a horrific accident in Mumbai's Bhandup area, a reversing BEST bus mowed down four pedestrians and injured nine others outside the railway station. Reporting from the spot, India Today's Senior Special Correspondent Vidya highlights that the tragedy occurred around 10 pm when the driver, identified as Santosh Ramesh Sawant, lost control in the congested market area. CCTV footage captured the shocking moment the Olectra electric bus crushed victims against a shop. While the driver has been arrested, Mumbai Congress President Varsha Gaikwad has questioned the maintenance of wet-leased buses and the competence of hired drivers. The incident has sparked outrage over the safety of Mumbai's civic transport system, with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announcing compensation for the victims' families.

Transcript

00:00Some breaking news, killer Mumbai bus mows down four people reversing Mumbai bus kills four

00:06pedestrians. We're showing you the CCTV visuals of the moment when this accident happened when

00:12the bus mowed down four people. This happened in the Bhandup area which is on the outskirts of

00:19Mumbai. The bus was reversing and that is when it killed four pedestrians. As you can see in

00:25these visuals, this is the moment of the accident when the bus mowed down four people. As you

00:32can see, it's a CCTV visual from a shop and outside the shop this accident happened. You

00:39can see the kind of crowd that is over there and this is the aftermath, complete chaos after

00:45the bus mowed down four people. And we're learning that the bus was reversing and that is when

00:53it went on a killing spree and this entire accident was caught on a CCTV, on a shop CCTV. As you

01:01can see in these visuals, the people running when they saw the bus reversing and then it

01:07mowed down four people and after which there was complete chaos outside the shop. It is a crowded

01:13area. This is the Bhandup area which is on the outskirts of Mumbai. My colleague Vidya is now

01:19joining us with more details on this horrific news coming to the fore from Bhandup in Mumbai.

01:25Vidya, what more details are we gathering?

01:27Has any action been taken against the driver of this bus?

01:35Well, I'm right now at the spot of the incident and this is where the entire investigation really

01:40revolves around. Of course, the driver was detained immediately after the incident. But if you can

01:46really see this entire site of incidents, this is a small area where this entire incident has happened. These

01:52huge buses take a U-turn right here outside the Bhandup station. And the passengers, as you can see,

02:00there's a bus stop right there. And people are already queuing up to take the buses, the next bus that

02:07comes in. And similarly, you can imagine during the entire rush hour time, it's exactly around 10 o'clock

02:13in the evening. There were a lot of, you know, p-hawkers who were there. There were a lot of passengers

02:20coming out of the railway station. There were people trying to catch their buses. There was a huge crowd.

02:26A lot of people that I've been speaking to since morning, they have all been saying that the condition

02:31in this area, it's so congested that, you know, it's very difficult for the buses to take a turn. And in the midst of it,

02:38while the bus driver was trying to take a turn and move on, that's the time he really hit, instead of

02:44probably the brake, he actually hit the accelerator and climbed onto the footpath, where you can see,

02:51and that's where the people who were waiting for the buses, they were there and they were crushed,

02:56they were crushed under the bus. And they came, you know, that really led to the incident where four

03:00people have died and 10 people are still in the hospital, you know, recuperating and trying,

03:05the doctors are trying to ensure that they, they be released as early as possible from the hospital.

03:11All right. With your ado, stay with us. We're showing our viewers the visuals of

03:15the moment when this accident occurred. This has been captured on a shop CCTV. As you can see

03:21on your left, you can see the moment of the accident when the bus moored down. You can see people

03:26in a shop and the bus was reversing and that is when the people started running. There was complete chaos.

03:33And then eventually the bus moored down four people, after which complete chaos broke out

03:39outside the shop. You can see the people running as they saw the bus coming towards

03:44them. And it still managed to moor down four people. It is a crowded area. And on the right,

03:50you can see what happened after the accident, after the bus moored down four people. Remember,

03:57it's not just four people, but several others were injured as well while the bus was reversing.

04:03And with them, my colleague continues to stay with us. But they were learning that

04:06several people were injured also, apart from the four people who have lost their lives.

04:11Oh, well, there were about 10 people. One person has been discharged is what we are being told. But

04:20then there are nine others were still in the hospital. They are being given the treatment. But

04:24of course, the investigation, and remember, this really brings back the memory of just last year,

04:28when we had seen a similar incident outside Kurla railway station, where nine people had died while the bus

04:34had gone on a rampage, killing, you know, people on the streets. While, you know, the drivers,

04:42as he said that he tried his best to put the brake, but the brake didn't work. Between the two,

04:46the driver is still, you know, behind bus. In the last 12, almost a year now, 12 months now,

04:53we have not seen that, you know, the driver has not been granted bail. He's still facing charges.

04:59The trial in that case is yet to begin with this framing of charges that has happened,

05:03but proceedings further has still not happened when you actually have another incident like this.

05:08So certainly, you know, the BST, then the lot of political people are already asking, like we had

05:14seen here, Barsha Gayakwar from the Congress really put out a question about the functioning of BST,

05:19the civic buses that are run in the city, which are on a rampage themselves, wherein such incidences

05:25are happening and moving down people, citizens of the city. So certainly, there are a lot of questions

05:31about the maintenance of these buses, the kind of people who are hired to do the job of driving the

05:37buses these days. That's something that is being questioned quite a lot right now after these incidences.

05:44Right. Vidya, as you already mentioned that this is a quite congested area, was there even scope of

05:50reversing the bus at that moment? We're showing our viewers the visuals where a crowd can be seen.

05:58And also, was there any BST staff that was assisting the driver during the reversing maneuver?

06:04Yes, we have been here for a while and we have been seeing, you can see how, you know, when

06:13the buses move around, the conductors are actually outside waiting for the buses, you know, the way

06:19they are moved ahead and back, backwards, and then it is really taken forward. So in these incidences,

06:24if you can see, this particular, say for example, this bus, the driver is inside, but the conductor

06:31would be somewhere outside right now. He's outside, he's speaking to the other staff, but then he will

06:37assist the driver to get out, you know, come out of this entire place. You can see, there's hardly any

06:43space for the driver to really move, maneuver inside, go outside on this portion. And then, you know,

06:49there are so many passengers, like right now you can see there's already a queue. And in Mumbai,

06:54there's a system wherein, you know, you outright, at the bus stop, you have two lanes of people,

07:02you know, standing. One is wherein, you know, people trying to get into and sit in the bus stop,

07:09in the buses, while there is another queue which is made to for people who can, who want to stand

07:14and travel. So, you know, there are two queues that you can see of people right here. So, there are two lanes in the queue

07:20that was formed yesterday. And this is where the entire incident really happened. And this is where

07:25the, you know, this, this, this particular place, this part shop is the one where the CCTV

07:32is located. This is where you can see in the CCTV footage, uh, you were here yesterday when the incident

07:37was moved there? What happened? What happened? What happened? What happened? What happened?

07:59foreign

08:13foreign

08:27so as you heard the you know the person who's an eyewitness of the incident because he was at that

08:36place where that ccd footage was released from this is from that shop and as he was saying that

08:41this particular incident is where you know because bus drivers also don't go slow there are a lot of

08:47people standing in different queues right here on this very footpath you can see at least two to

08:52three lines being formed for the buses you know passengers to get into the buses so there is quite

08:59a lot of congestion there's a lot of crowd in this area and as you can see the bus is almost almost

09:05on the footpath while it was you know taking a turn up so in in the midst of all this congestion

09:11certainly there is issues of planning in this area also the fact remains that you know earlier in

09:17between we had seen how best used to use smaller buses in congested areas now those smaller buses

09:24have gone in the place of these these huge buses have come in place which adds to the difficulty

09:30of maneuvering in these congested areas all right vidya thank you so much for getting us all those

09:35details right from the accident spot where a best bus mowed down four people while it was reversing

09:43remember this happened in the bhandup area which is on the outskirts of mumbai and this is a

09:47really congested area where this best bus was reversing and that is when it mowed down four

09:53people and several others are injured as well

Mumbai Horror: Reversing BEST Bus Mows Down 4 In Bhandup; Driver Arrested

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