NAVI MUMBAI/MUMBAI: Thirteen individuals, most of them young musicians from a dhol tasha band, met an untimely death, and 29 others were injured, after a private bus with 42 passengers fell nearly 500 feet down a steep hill on the old Mumbai-Pune highway at Khopoli early on Saturday. The youngest was an eight-year-old musician on his maiden trip outside the city for a performance.
The 13 deceased persons included nine from Goregaon, two from Malad and one each from Mahim and Chembur. Three victims were female.
The musicians were young boys and girls who play traditional musical instruments, dhol and tasha, at festivals. The Bajiprabhu Dhol Tasha band was led by one Satish Dhumal (23) who died in the crash with his brother, Swapnil, 17. The bus was returning to Mumbai from an event near Pimpri-Chinchwad in Pune, where the artistes had gone to play dhol tasha for Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti celebrations on April 14.
