Eager to board a bus that would take him back home from Goa, Goregaon resident Madhukar Singh was crestfallen when he was told that the packed bus could not accommodate his family. The man is now counting his blessings, having narrowly averting catastrophe — the same bus, while winding its way towards Mumbai, plunged into the river in Ratnagiri district in the early hours yesterday.

Singh, who was holidaying in Goa with his wife and nine-month-old son, couldn’t board the private bus as only one ticket was available, when he needed two. Disappointed, he took the one that departed half an hour later.