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| 5 Doctors were killed in accident |
Five
doctors were killed on the spot when the vehicle they were travelling in rammed into a
bus on the Mumbai-Agra highway (NH 3) at Kokangaon phata near Pimpalgaon
Baswant in Nashik. Another doctor who sustained injuries is recuperating in a
hospital in Nashik.
Those
killed have been identified as Dr Sanjay Tiwari (47), Dr Chandrashekhar
Gangurde (45), Dr Pratap Shelke (46), Dr Sooraj Patil (40) and Dr Kundan Jadhav
(34). Dr Umesh Bhosale's condition is stated to be stable.
The
accident took place around 2am on Monday when the doctors from Pimpalgaon
Baswant were returning home from Nashik after attending a medical conference.
While Dr
Gangurde, Dr Shelke, Dr Patil and Dr Bhosale had reached Nashik in a Mahindra
XUV belonging to Dr Patil for the conference at Hotel Express Inn at 8.30pm on
Sunday, Dr Tiwari and Dr Jadhav reached in a car of their colleague Dr Rohan
More. When the conference got over by 1am, Dr Tiwari and Dr Jadhav sat in the
XUV to return home.
The XUV
rammed into the private bus from behind. The bus had slowed down due to a speed
breaker and the speeding XUV rammed head on into the rear of the bus. The
impact of the collision was such that the XUV was completely smashed and five
doctors were killed on the spot. Only Dr Bhosale, who was sitting on the back
seat, survived.
The
bodies of the five doctors were taken to the primary health centre in
Pimpalgaon Baswant. The bodies were handed over to the families at 10am after
post mortem.
Dr Tiwari
practised as a heart specialist. Serving the people of Pimplagaon Baswant for
the past 20 years at his Sanjeevani hospital, Dr Tiwari had saved lives of many
patients. He is survived by his wife and two daughters. Dr Gangurde was a paediatrician
at Chiranjeevi Hospital for the past 18 years. He is survived by his wife and
two daughters. Dr Patil practised as a gynaecologist at Girija hospital for the
past 13 years. He is survived by his wife. Dr Jadhav, was also as a
gynaecologist at Gayatri hospital and he is survived by his wife and a
daughter.
Dr Pratap
Shelke is survived by his and two daughters. He was a gynecologist at Shelke
hospital for the past 18 years.
A case
has been filed at the Pimpalgaon Baswant police station and the police are in
search of the bus. However, Sanjay Mohite, superintendent of police, Nashik
(rural), said: "While some people are saying it was a bus that the
doctors' vehicle had rammed into, considering the condition of the XUV, the
probability of it being a bigger vehicle like a container cannot be ruled out.
We are in search of the unknown vehicle."
This, in
fact, is the third accident in the recent past on NH3 in the vicinity of
Nashik. Last week, in an accident wherein a cool cab rammed into the rear of a
truck on a flyover of NH3, three persons, including a woman journalist, were
killed. In another accident last week, again on a flyover near Rane Nagar, one
person was killed.
A Neeta luxury bus spun out of
control, drove over a divider and hit an Innova car on the Nashik-Mumbai
highway on Saturday evening, killing nine people and injuring 20. The incident
took place in Lahegaon near the Cico Pipe Company and the injured have been
transferred to Shahapur hospital. Dilip Salunke, police inspector, Shahapur
police station, says, “A pulsar bike entered the Nashik highway unexpectedly
while the Neeta luxury bus was travelling towards Mumbai. While trying to save
the biker, the bus driver lost control. The bus drove over the divider and hit
the Innova car which was coming from Mumbai. It was then into the farm
adjoining the highway.”
Sunil Vodke, senior police inspector, Shahapur
police station, says, “Around nine people are dead in the incident and 20 were
injured. All of them are sent to Shahapur government hospital, while few are
sent to Kardia Care hospital in Shahapur.” The incident took place in Lahegaon
near the Cico Pipe Company.
The Innova diver Darshan Kumar, a resident of
Jharkhand, died on the spot. He was accompanied by two children and a women,
who also died. “We will register a case against the driver of the bus who is
absconding,” said Vodke.
Fifty one-year-old Rajendra Sharma, one of the
injured, explained that the bus had 52 passengers and that the driver drove
rashly.
“Twenty of us came from Chandni Chowk in Delhi
to Shirdi for darshan three days before. We boarded the bus from Shirdi to
Mumbai on Saturday morning, as we were coming to take darshan of Lalbaugcha
Raja in Mumbai. We were supposed to leave for Delhi on Sunday evening. But now,
I suppose we have to cancel our tickets because of the accident.”
