AS many as 27 people, including 20 girl students, were injured when a bus carrying nearly 58 passengers veered off the road and fell in a trench in Baramati taluka of the Pune district on December 31. The accident took place around 3 am on Baramati-Phaltan road at Pahunewadi village nearly 110 km from the Pune city. The private bus was carrying 58 passengers, including 49 girl students from a private coaching class located at Kabnoor village in Ichalkaranji taluka in Kolhapur district.
The rest nine passengers were staffers of the coaching class and family members of its proprietors. An officer from Malegaon police station (Pune Rural) said the students and others had started their trip on December 26 and had visited various places in Aurangabad, Shani Shingnapur and Shirdi. They were on the return journey to Ichalkaranji from Shirdi on December 31.
Officials said that around 3 am when the bus was passing Pahunewadi village, it veered off the road at speed and landed in a roadside trench. Nearly 20 of girls (between 14 to 16 years) and seven of the staffers sustained injuries. All the injured were shifted to a hospital in Baramati and are undergoing treatment, officials said. A case of negligent driving was registered against the driver of the bus.
