17 December,2010 07:36 AM IST | | Alifiya Khan
Narrow escape for old couple as wall collapses; onlookers allege driver dozed off at the wheel
In a late night accident, a driver of a state transport bus allegedly fell asleep behind the wheel and rammed the bus into the shanties at Chinchwad. About 30 people were injured in the accident that happened around 1 am.
According to officials from Chinchwad police station, the state transport bus had started from Mumbai's Kurla terminus and had about 40 passengers in it at the time of accident.
"We were all set to sleep when suddenly the wall of my house fell on us and we were caught beneath it. Luckily for me, the bus stopped soon after crashing into my wall or I would have been dead. I was already halfway under the bus and the broken wall was crushing me down. My neighbours rushed to my help and pulled me and my husband out," said Kaushalya Kadam, 62, a resident of the shanty where the bus crashed into.
According to eyewitnesses, the driver was sleeping behind the wheels and didn't realise when the bus swerved completely to one side and broke the road divider to directly crash into the shanties adjoining the road.
The bus also crushed two auto-rickshaws that were parked at the spot.
"After we removed these people from under the rubble, we realised what a major disaster it could have been.
The bus driver was so careless that he had driven the bus halfway into their house," said one of the local residents.
Constables from Pimpri police station who were present at the spot said that about 25 passengers were rushed to Sassoon, YCM and Lokmanya hospital for minor injuries sustained.
"Some of them hurt their head and arms. Most of them suffered face injuries. Many have lost some of their teeth," said a constable. "The driver ran away from the spot and surrendered at the police station to escape mob fury."
