26 die after crash sends bus tumbling into well in India
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Onlookers gathering around the crumpled remains of an auto rickshaw (above) that crashed with a bus in Nashik district, near Mumbai, on Tuesday. A seven-year-old girl was among the dead after the bus fell into a well.
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
MUMBAI • Twenty-six people, including a seven-year-old girl, were killed after the bus they were travelling in crashed with an auto rickshaw and fell into a well in western India, officials said yesterday.
Emergency crews worked through the night to rescue survivors and retrieve bodies, and used a crane to remove the red and white bus from the well, as hundreds thronged to the crash site after the accident late on Tuesday.
Rescue operations ended early yesterday in Nashik district, 254km from Mumbai.
National Disaster Response Force spokesman Sachidanand Gawde told Agence France-Presse news agency: "We conducted rescue operations throughout the night and recovered 26 bodies. Another 32 injured have been sent for treatment."
The bus driver was among the dead.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences.
"In this hour of sadness, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover at the earliest," he tweeted.
India has some of the world's highest traffic fatalities, with more than 150,000 deaths annually due to poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.
Experts say many highways and roads suffer from design flaws, making rides a daily risk, particularly during winter when visibility drops considerably.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
