Toll In Mumbai BEST Bus Crash Rises To 7; Got Confused, Says Arrested Driver [Watch]

Mumbai: Seven persons died while 42, including four policemen, sustained injuries after a Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) bus rammed into pedestrians and vehicles along SG Barve Marg in Kurla West, Mumbai on Monday night.

Three persons were brought dead from the crash site to nearby Bhabha Hospital, the toll rose to 7 on Tuesday morning.

According to reports, the driver lost control over the vehicle while it was heading towards Andheri and collided with 30 to 40 vehicles over a 100-metre stretch and then crashed into the RCC column of the Solomon Building, breaking its compound wall. As many as 22 vehicles were also damaged.

The accident took place around 9.30 pm.

The injured persons are undergoing treatment at various Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation -run medical facilities, including Bhabha Hospital, Sion Hospital and Seven Hills Hospital, police said, adding condition of some of them was critical.

Meanwhile, a Mumbai court remanded the driver Sanjay More, arrested for ‘culpable homicide not amounting to murder, to police custody till December 21. He allegedly had no experience of driving electric vehicles and had undergone only a ten-day training for steering EVs.

He also told police during interrogation that the absence of a clutch in the automatic vehicle left him confused while driving.

Police told the court that they need to probe if he had committed the act “deliberately” and used the vehicle as a “weapon” and if he was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the crash.

Primary medical reports of More, however, suggested that he was not under the influence of alcohol during the accident.

In a message on X, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced a financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of each of the deceased. The medical expenses of the injured will be borne by BMC and BEST undertaking, he added.