As many as eight passengers waiting for a bus on the Pune-Bengaluru national highway died when they were knocked down and crushed under a container heading for Pune from Satara, at Khandala ghat on Sunday noon.

The Khandala Police and highway police called in cranes to lift the containers and retrieve the eight people

Khandala police have registered a case against the container driver Navnath Ajinath Geet, a resident of Khanda colony, Panvel, in Navi Mumbai. He was arrested on Sunday evening. The eight deceased have been identified as Neha Waghmare, (25), her brother Pramod, (20) from Khandala, Avinash Gedam, (20) from Chandrapur, Sharifa alias Havabi Manjori-Kachi (30), and her relatives Shabana, (22), Salma, (52), Halima Patel (45), Sakinabai (75) all from Ghatkopar.