5 killed as car swerves to avoid potholes, crashes into bus in Maharashtra

BEED: Five people, including an 11-year-old boy, were killed after their car swerved to avoid potholes and collided head-on with a state transport bus in Maharashtra’s Beed district on Sunday morning, police said.According to news agency PTI, the accident occurred around 11am at Shindewadi Cross Road on the Khamgaon-Pandharpur National Highway in Majalgaon tehsil, around 55km from the district headquarters.Visuals from the accident site show the car reduced to a mangled heap of metal, with its roof, doors, windows and windshields severely damaged.The front of the bus has also sustained heavy damage, with broken parts scattered across the road. Several people can be seen gathered around the wreckage.The victims, all residents of Majalgaon, were travelling to Tuljapur in neighbouring Dharashiv district when their car collided with a Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bus coming from the opposite direction.The deceased have been identified as Omkar Mahadev Giri (24), Gajanan Mahadev Namdas (38), his 11-year-old son Samarth, Somnath Bade (23) and Anil Acharya (40). All five occupants of the car died on the spot, an official said.CCTV footage from the area showed the speeding car losing control while attempting to avoid potholes on a bridge before crashing head-on into the bus, the official said.The accident triggered protests over the condition of the Majalgaon-Telgaon stretch. Locals staged a road blockade, alleging that substandard construction and poor maintenance had left fissures and uneven surfaces along the highway, turning it into an accident-prone stretch.Traffic remained disrupted for several hours before senior police and district officials reached the spot and pacified the protesters. Traffic movement was subsequently restored.(With PTI inputs)Stay updated with the latest Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar news. Download the TOI App.