A tragic bus and SUV collision in Thane, Maharashtra, has claimed the lives of four people, prompting a police investigation into the cause of the accident and raising concerns about road safety in the region.
Police have registered a case against the driver of a state transport bus after its collision with an SUV killed four persons in Maharashtra's Thane district, officials said on Wednesday.
The bus belonging to the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) and the Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) collided around 11 am on Tuesday at Tokawde in Murbad taluka.
Among the eight occupants of the SUV were two minors. Four persons, including the SUV's owner and driver, died on the spot, while the other four sustained injuries and are undergoing treatment in different hospitals, Tokawde police station inspector Shitalkumar Naik told PTI.
"An FIR has been registered against the MSRTC bus driver under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Motor Vehicles Act," he said.
The bodies have been sent to a government hospital for a postmortem.
No arrest has been made so far, and a probe is underway into the case, the official added.
The deceased have been identified as Avinash Kakade, Abhishek Mote, Nita Dhure and Meena Madke, all residents of Nevasa in Ahilyanagar district, according to Murbad tehsildar Abhijit Deshmukh.
This was the second major accident on the route in less than a month. On April 13, a collision between a van and a cement mixer truck in the district claimed 11 lives.