BEST conductor killed after being crushed between 2 buses in Andheri chain collision

Mumbai: A 52-year-old BEST bus conductor died after he got sandwiched between two BEST buses in Andheri West on Thursday afternoon. The deceased, Shekhar Rawate, died after suffering severe injuries in a chain collision involving four buses.

The accident took place around 1.15 pm between Ambivali Naka and Rajkumar bus stop on SV Road. At the time of going to press, DN Nagar police said they were in the process of registering an FIR and had detained one of the four drivers who allegedly reversed his vehicle which led to the tragedy.

DN Nagar police senior inspector Rajendra Machidar said they would register a case against the driver of “bus number three” under the BNS negligence and rash driving section. “The mishap occurred after a tree suddenly fell on the road and three buses came to a stop. The driver of the fourth bus, instead of stopping, lost control and collided with the third bus from behind. The third bus then went on to hit the second bus, and the second collided with the first. Afterwards, Rawate, who was the conductor in the first bus, got down to see what had happened. He went between buses number three and four. At that time, the driver of bus number three reversed the vehicle, which led to the conductor being crushed between buses three and four,” said Machinder.

“We sought the CCTV footage to find out who was at fault. Prima facie, the mishap occurred after the traffic slowed following the sudden crash of a large tree on the road near Ambivali Naka, leading to congestion on SV Road. Three buses operated by wet lease contractor Mateshwari, plying routes 266, 242 and 249, were stranded in a queue because of the blockage. While the buses were stationary, a fourth bus, an electric vehicle operated by another wet lease contractor, PMI, from Oshiwara depot, rammed into the others from behind,” said a police officer.

All four buses were taken to the bus depot to clear the traffic congestion on SV Road.

Meanwhile, the panchnama process was on at Cooper Hospital as Rawate’s son and other family members were called. Police late in the evening were recording statements of eyewitnesses and the drivers and conductors of all four buses who were questioned to find out the exact cause of the accident.

BEST has constituted an inquiry committee to conduct a detailed probe and recommend remedial and preventive measures. “Rawate, who was working as a conductor on one of the Mateshwari buses, stepped out of his vehicle and was walking between the last two buses at the time of the collision to see what had happened. But one of the buses moved again and hit the conductor,” said BEST committee member Sunil Ganacharya, who was at the spot.

The impact left Rawate critically injured. He was immediately rushed to Cooper Hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival. Ganacharya said the undertaking should probe to check if there is driver negligence that led to the death.