Twelve persons, including a two-year-old child, were killed and 43 injured after a Mumbai-bound private sleeper bus they were travelling in hit a trailer truck and caught fire in Nashik, Maharashtra, in the early hours of Saturday.
Nashik City Police Commissioner Jayant Naiknavare said the accident took place around 5.15 a.m. near Nandur Naka. He said the bus, which was headed to Mumbai from Yavatmal district, was carrying passengers much beyond its capacity. “It had a capacity of 30 passengers, but 53 were travelling in it. The driver of the coal-laden truck and the ill-fated bus failed to negotiate the square at the intersection and didn’t apply brakes; as a result, the bus driver directly hit the truck’s fuel tank on the side, and caught fire immediately,” he said.
