MUMBAI: Nine passengers travelling from Pune to Tryambakeshwar died last night when their bus rammed into a stationary truck near Narayangaon in Maharashtra.
The truck owner was trying to change a flat tyre when the ill-fated state transport corporation bus rammed into it, killing at least eight passengers on board and the owner of the truck, said police.
The driver of the state transport bus probably couldn't see the standing truck as it was raining heavily. The accident took place at around 1.30 am, police have said.
Fifteen others including passengers from the bus have received severe injuries and are admitted to private hospitals near AlePhata.
The Pune-Nashik highway is being widened to a four-lane road. The Narayangaon-AlePhata stretch is the only stretch on the road where work has not been completed as yet.
While speaking at a function at Pune on Sunday, union transport minister Niton Gadkari criticised officials from his own department for delaying highway repairs.
This is the second accident within 24 hours of Gadkari's public admonition of the officials. An MSRTC bus had a similar accident yesterday on the Satara-Pune highway.