The 30 staff members of the Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, who died after their bus fell into a 800-foot-deep gorge in Ambenali Ghat near Poladpur, were not supposed to be there.

But in a twist of fate, they probably decided to go to Mahabaleshwar before going on a study to Rahuri, and took the road. According to the district collector, the trip was meant for wheat research at a college in Ahmednagar. The police have found they had made bookings at a resort in Tapola, Mahabaleshwar.