Thirty people were killed and 16 others injured in a bus accident at Naldurg near Osmanabad in Maharashtra at about 2-40 a.m. on Saturday.
The bus carrying pilgrims to Shirdi from Hyderabad fell into a gorge when the driver lost control of the vehicle. The 16 injured passengers have been shifted to a hospital and the condition of some is said to be critical.
Of the 13 employees of software company TCS on board the ill-fated bus, at least nine are feared dead and three injured. Details of another person are yet to be ascertained.
A TCS spokesperson in a statement said, “We are extremely shocked and saddened by young lives taken away. We are extending full support to the families.”
Emergency meeting
All the TCS staff were from an engineering college in Vizianagaram and had completed three months training at TCS and were awaiting projects. They were on a private visit to Shirdi. The Andhra Pradesh Government has initiated action against the travel firm operating the service.
Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, held an emergency meeting at the Secretariat on the accident and later spoke to his Maharashtra counterpart, Mr Prithviraj Chauhan, as also the District Collector to facilitate relief operations.
A team headed by an AP Minister was also sent to the site to oversee relief operations and facilitate treatment and also help bring back bodies to Hyderabad.