TEAM HERALD
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PANJIM: On any other day, Rubin Gopi would have been attending to calls to book bus tickets to various destinations. But on Tuesday, this travel agent from Mapusa was busy attending to numerous calls as people sought details on those who died or were injured in the bus mishap at Khed-Ratnagiri.
In fact, Gopi was virtually the sole helpline for authorities, relatives and media in the State on Tuesday morning, as he hurriedly compiled a list of those who had died or were injured in the bus mishap, after collecting the details from other agents.
A travel agent for 14 years, Gopi was shocked to hear the news of the bus mishap at about 7 am.
“Initially, I thought it may have been a minor accident. The bus owner then got in touch with me and said the bus had fallen off a bridge and that there had been casualties. Even then, I had hoped that there were no fatalities,” Gopi told Herald.
Gopi then rushed to his travel agency opposite the Mapusa taxi stand, where a Traffic police inspector was waiting for him. It was a sombre atmosphere as fellow travel agents were also stunned to hear the news of the terrible bus mishap.
“The Goa Police and RTO called me to get details about the passengers who were in the ill-fated bus. Unfortunately, it was difficult to collect the names as many passengers had given single names or pet names. Some others had booked multiple tickets on one name, making it difficult to identify the deceased and injured,” recalled Gopi.
Gopi then got in touch with other travel agents, who had also booked passengers on the ill-fated bus, and collected details from them.
“My mobile phone was flooded with calls from authorities, relatives and the media, as we were preparing a chart of the deceased passengers. At that time, I was the helpline as the passenger list was with me and all wanted these details,” Gopi added.
Gopi himself had booked nine passengers on the ill-fated bus. “Four of my customers died in the mishap, while five others were seriously injured. I recall one passenger, Mr Pinto, a native of Mumbai, who is a regular visitor to Goa on account of some legal matter. He has been our regular customer since the past 12 years,” said Gopi.
Till late evening, Gopi was busy attending to calls and providing details of the passengers in the bus and returned home exhausted from his unexpected work.
“It was a terrible experience for me and this is the first time that I have encountered such a situation. I believe is one of the worst accidents for a Goa-Mumbai bus,” said Gopi.
