A t least 34 persons were killed and over 16 injured when a bus in which they were travelling slipped off a bridge and plunged into a valley near Sholapur of Maharasthra in the wee hours of Saturday. The bus was heading to Shirdi. All the 50 members belonged to Andhra Pradesh. The injured persons are undergoing treatment at Sholapur hospital. Notably, Shirdi bus accident sent shock waves among people in AP who often travel by private buses from Hyderabad-Shirdi and Shirdi-Hyderabad.
Volvo bus belonging to Kaleshwari travels left for Shirdi with 50 passengers on Friday evening. They were supposed to reach Shirdi on Saturday morning. The primary reports indicated that at least 16 persons died on the spot while remaining breathed their last at the hospital.
Following the accident tension atmosphere prevailed at many places in Hyderabad with relatives of the passengers thronging the travel agencies in the city for enquiring the safety of their kin and kith.
So far the names of four dead persons were ascertained. They include Krishna Tulasi, Sumith Kumar, Venkatesh and Subba Rao. Notably, among of the deceased, majority of them were below 30 years of age.
More details awaited.
(AW Phani)
