MUMBAI: The cleaner of a private school bus died and two children suffered minor injuries after the driver lost control of the vehicle and rammed it into a barricade installed for Metro work on SV Road in Goregaon early on Tuesday.
The police said the bus had 'Ryan International School' written on both sides but was ferrying students of St Xavier's High School who were heading to their institute for exams.
The Vanrai police arrested the driver, Ramji Gaud (54), and booked him for rash and negligent driving and causing death due to negligence under the Indian Penal Code.
The MMRDA has placed barricades on SV Road due to the ongoing Metro work. "On Tuesday morning, the bus was ferrying students to sohool when the accident took place. The bus was on the service road and was taking a sharp turn when the driver lost control of the vehicle and rammed into a barricade. The impact was so powerful that the body of bus got torn off on the left side," said a police officer. The cleaner, Umesh Gurav (35), who was standing at the door lost his balance, and fell from the moving bus on to the barricade. He suffered serious injuries on his head and left hand. Gurav was rushed to hospital by other motorists but was declared dead before admission by doctors.
The two injured students were taken to to Holy Spirit Hospital in
Andheri
. While one of them had only suffered skin abrasions, he was treated and discharged. The other student, Amogh Warang (13) from Jogeshwari, suffered a fracture on his left hip, a wound on his left thigh, and skin abrasions. Dr Pankaj Nalawade said Warang will undergo surgery for his hip fracture on Wednesday. "Otherwise, he is stable," said the doctor.
Ravi Gaikwad, who heads Borivli RTO, said a show-cause notice has been sent to the bus driver, and if the reply is not satisfactory, the RTO will suspend both his commercial driving licence and the bus permit. "The driver's careless driving caused the accident in which one person died and two children were injured," said senior inspector Jyotsna Rasam of Vanrai police station.