Days after a tragic BEST bus accident in Mumbai’s Kurla claimed seven lives, another fatal incident occurred in the Govandi area, where a 25-year-old man was run over by an electric bus, police reported.
The accident happened late Saturday at the Shivaji Nagar junction in Govandi. The victim, identified as Dikshit Vinod Rajput, was riding his motorcycle at the time of the mishap, according to ANI.
A police official stated that Rajput sustained a severe head injury and was immediately rushed to Rajawadi Hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
The electric buses involved in the incident are operated by the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking on a lease basis.
The 39-year-old bus driver, Vinod Aabaji Rankhambe, and the conductor, Avinash Vikramrao Gite, have been arrested under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) Act, as per NDTV. Authorities confirmed that a detailed investigation into the incident is underway.
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Earlier this week, a tragic accident involving a BEST bus claimed the lives of seven people and left 42 others injured along SG Barve Marg in Kurla West. The bus, over a stretch of 100 meters, collided with 30 to 40 vehicles before crashing into the RCC column of the Solomon Building, breaking its compound wall, according to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
The driver, 54-year-old Sanjay More, was arrested after losing control of the vehicle while operating route A322 from Kurla Station to Sakinaka.
The vehicle involved in the accident was a 12-meter-long electric bus manufactured by Hyderabad-based Olectra Greentech, leased by BEST on a wet-lease arrangement.
During police interrogation, More revealed he was uncomfortable operating the bus’s automatic transmission, which he had been assigned on December 1.
A preliminary assessment report from Regional Transport Officers (RTO) submitted two days later confirmed there was no technical fault with the bus. However, the report highlighted that More had not received adequate training for the electric bus. He had completed only three training sessions provided by the wet-lease contractor, falling short of BEST’s standard operating procedure, which mandates six weeks of refresher training for drivers transitioning from manual to electric buses.
This lack of proper training contributed to the tragic mishap, which cost seven lives.
BEST resumed services in the Kurla West area on Friday, following the incident.
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