Driver, conductor drown as bus washed away in flood

SOLAPUR - The driver and conductor of a state transport bus were drowned when their bus was washed away in flood waters in this Maharashtra district Sunday, officials said. An off-duty driver, hitching a lift on the vehicle, however escaped.

According to in-charge of Sholapur ST depot, Manoj Mudaliar, the bus was on a regular trip from Chungi village to Sholapur town, around 400 km from Mumbai.

“At a flooded drain on the outskirts of the village, the bus suddenly stopped and a driver, going home after his duty, got down to check the problem,” Mudaliar told IANS.

The water level suddenly rose, not giving enough time to the other two occupants to jump out to safety, though the off-duty driver managed to rush to safety.

The bus overturned by the force of the water and was washed away in the heavily flooded drain waters.

However, Sunday being a low-traffic day, there were no other passengers on the bus, which normally runs to full capacity on this route on weekdays.

After a hectic search operation, the bus was found around four kms downstream from the accident site, Mudaliar said.

The bodies of the victims - driver Dhanaji Dattraye Potdar, 55 and conductor, Rudrappa Gangappa Jamadar,48 have been recovered and sent for autopsy to the district hospital.