Pune-Satara Highway accident: Locals form rescue team, rush victims to hospital

One person was killed and over 45 injured in a headon collision between two luxury buses at 430 am on Sunday on the PuneSatara highway leading to Khandala near Khambatki tunnel The deceased has been identified as Deepak Shivaji Nikam a resident of Indiranagar ThaneAlso Read Luxury bus accident on PuneSatara highway kills one injures 40This bus owned by Sajari Travels was travelling from Mumbai and was heading to ShirolChincholi near Satara Travellers say that the bus driver had taken the bus down the wrong lane It was the Khandala Rescue Team KRT formed by local youngsters to rescue and provide immediate medical care for accident victims at Khandala that played a vital role in ensuring that the victims got immediate careThe victims of the accident also confirmed that the rescuers garnered resources on time and took the injured to the hospital immediately where they could get medical care The team consisting of 150200 youngsters from the district has created a strong network among the residents to ensure that they get updates of every such incident KRT manages to reach a disaster zone before local police or disaster officials to help accident victimsRead Story Major accident on BangaloreMumbai highway 6 deadInjured Left Sunanda Mane and Sunita KhotWrong sideOne of the buses owned by Paulo Travels was heading to Mumbai from Goa while the other bus owned by Sajari Travels was travelling in the opposite direction from Mumbai and was heading to ShirolChincholi near Satara The headon collision left 45 passengers from the two buses with minor injuriesAfter the collision it was KRT which first received the call about the incident from a local tea vendor near the accident spot All the hoteliers and roadside stalls have been told by the KRT members to contact them at such timesldquoAs soon as we received a call around 2025 of our boys reached the spot along with the ambulance that we have We also called and informed the disaster management team and police officials who garnered more resources and reached the spot after some time Till then we had started shifting the injured to Khandala Government Hospital for primary medical carerdquo said Ajit Yadav core member of the KRT teamHelping handAccident victims said that they managed to get immediate medical care after the incident due to KRT and didnrsquot have to wait for helpVikhroli resident Sunanda Mane 40 who was travelling with her family of eight to their village Yelapur in Sangli district said that they were moved to the hospital within 15 minutes of the incident ldquoWe were all sleeping when the incident took place When we got out of the mangled remains my teeth had punctured my lips The same happened with my husband his front teeth fell out due to the collision But moments after we came out there were ambulances in which we were sent to the government hospital and later shifted to Jogalekar Hospitalrdquo said ManeAnand Patil 55 a resident of Thane who was on his way to his native place said that they were woken up due to the impact of the collision ldquoOur bus driver in order to avoid traffic steered the bus towards the opposite lane and rammed head on with a bus coming from the opposite direction The impact was such that our bus was dragged a few meters and came to a halt after falling into a slope besides the road Soon after the incident the driver fled the spot Since I was seated at the back of the bus I did not sustain serious injuriesrdquo said PatilAlso Read Tragedy on MumbaiGoa highway Sleepy driver leaves 3 dead 19 injuredA few of the Mumbaikars brought their relatives home after the incident once they contacted them at Khandala Government Hospital Andheri resident Manmohan Gupta 22 whose 30yearold sister Anju Gupta was returning from Goa received a call at around 545 am about the incident ldquoWe were updated by the police officials about the matter My sister fractured her ankle due to the impact of the collision As soon as we traced her to Khandala Government Hospital with the doctorrsquos permission we brought her back to Mumbai We have admitted her to Aditya Nursing Home doctors have plastered her leg and she is stable nowrdquo said ManmohanAbout KRTA team of around 200 youngsters from Khandala district KRT was born out of the social activities of Ajit Yadavrsquos own crane business alongside highways Yadav created an official group of youngsters ranging from 18 to 30 years and residing in the district Launched in January this year KRT has assisted local authorities in a total of 5560 accidents till date The group also has its own ambulance and a network of vendors hoteliers and shop owners to get updates about such accidents