PANJIM: In a gruesome accident early Saturday morning at Panjim’s KTC bus stand a private passenger bus crushed two people to death while three are seriously injured.
According to Panjim Police the accident took place inside the KTC terminal at around 7 am when the bus was moving out of the stand in the wrong direction.
Details released by the police reveal that passengers were alighting from a bus that had arrived at the bus stand, when the bus (GA 07 F 1972) which was coming from the opposite direction crushed the passengers and dashed the stationary bus.
The injured passengers were immediately shifted to Goa Medical College at Bambolim through ambulances. Two of the victims, Shankar Thakur (51) resident of Curti, Ponda and Tulshidas Bhat (72) resident of Narva, Bicholim, expired in the hospital while undergoing treatment.
The other three accident victims Prerna Bhagat (25) of Marcel Ponda, Lou Vaigankar (54) of Divar and Vincent Braganza (29) of St Cruz are undergoing treatment at GMC.
Police said the driver Saleem Mohamad Ali, a resident of Curchorem, has been booked under Sections 279, 337, 338 and 304c of the Indian Penal Code and taken into police custody.
Panjim Police Inspector Sidhant Shirodkar said further investigations are in progress under PSI Kishor Ramanan.
He added that the Police will move the Regional Transport Office to cancel the permit of the bus and the driving licence of the driver. He also said that RTO will be asked to check the fitness of the bus and whether it is fit to operate on the road.
