Nine dead as SUV collides with bus in Gujarat’s Navsari

Nine people were killed and 29 others were injured when a sports utility vehicle collided with a luxury bus on a national highway in Navsari district of Gujarat early on Saturday morning, police officers said.

The accident occurred near Vesma village on national highway 8 at around 3.20am, when the bus was travelling from Surat towards Valsad, officers said. The SUV, a Toyota Fortuner, was making the reverse journey.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the accident and announced ex-gratia of ₹2 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased and ₹50,000 to the injured.

While all eight passengers of the car were killed in the accident, one person travelling on the bus also died.

There were reports that the bus driver suffered a heart attack and lost control of the vehicle. The police, however, rejected the claim.

The bodies of the deceased will be sent for post-mortem examinations according to the procedure, the police said.

“The driver of the SUV lost control over the vehicle, due to which it jumped the divider and crossed over to the other side before colliding with the luxury bus on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad national highway. The impact of the collision left the SUV completely mangled,” Navsari superintendent of police Rushikesh Upadhyay said.

Two of the eight people travelling in the SUV were pronounced dead on the spot, while six others were pronounced dead at the Navsari civil hospital, Upadhyay said.

The eight people were on their way to Ankleshwar in Surat for after some official work in Valsad. The driver of the SUV, Nitin Ghanshyam Patil, 30, who also died in the accident, likely fell asleep at the wheel and lost control of the car, the SP said.

The passengers of the bus were returning after attending a religious event in Ahmedabad, the SP said.

“There were 30 people on the bus, all of whom were injured to varying degrees. Most were taken to the New Civil Hospital in Navsari,” Upadhyay said, adding that one person who is in a critical condition has been transferred to a private hospital in Surat.

Of the nine deceased, five were in their twenties, the police added.

In a tweet, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said, “Pained by the loss of lives due to a road accident in Navsari. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. I hope the injured recover soon. An ex-gratia of ₹2 lakh from Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) would be given to the next of kin of each deceased. Those injured would be given ₹50,000.”

Union home minister Amit Shah also expressed grief over the accident and said the local administration was offering treatment to the injured.

“The road accident in Gujarat’s Navsari is heartbreaking. My condolences to those who have lost their families in this tragedy. May God give them strength to bear the pain. The local administration is giving immediate treatment to the injured, praying for their speedy recovery,” he said in a tweet.

Condoling the deaths, Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel said, “The road accident tragedy in Navsari saddens me. I express my heartfelt condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the accident. I pray to God for the speedy recovery of the injured.”

With agency inputs