A truck carrying 16 devotees of Lord Vitthal, who are called Warkaris, fell off a bridge over the Nira River in Satara in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The accident claimed nine lives and left seven others were left injured.
According to the Pune rural police, the accident occurred near the Lonand village at around 3 am on Tuesday.
“The truck was passing over a bridge over the Nira River, when the driver lost control of the vehicle and rammed into the concrete railing of the bridge. The truck must have been travelling at a considerable speed, as it crashed right through the divider and plunged nearly 100 feet into the river,” said an officer with the Jejuri police station.
The sound of the crash woke up villagers in Lonand, who rushed to the spot and also called the police control room. Several teams and ambulances were rushed to the spot immediately. However, rescue efforts were hampered due to the lack of light at that time of the day, the police said.
Seven of the 16 Warkaris were killed on the spot, while two others succumbed to their injuries while being rushed to the government hospital in Lonand. The remaining seven are still recuperating, and some of them were later shifted to Sassoon Hospital in Pune due to the seriousness of their injuries.
The deceased have been identified as Ganpat Gosavi, Sadavati Gawad, Muktabai Kumbhar, Pramila Jagtap, Kisan Gosavi, Sulochana Jagtap, Kundabai Jagtap, Nagesh Gosavi and Shahaji Shinde, while the injured have been identified as Kashinath Waghmare, Keshav Jagtap, Vimal Waghmare, Parvati Nakare, Janabai Hagwane, Bhai Kumbhar and Yamuna Waghmare.
“Prima facie investigations indicate that the truck lost control, as the driver could not assess the width of the bridge due to lack of light,” the officer said.
The officer added that all the victims are residents of Baramati and were travelling to Pandharpur. They had planned to halt at Lonand and continue their journey in the morning.
“We will be booking the truck driver for causing death due to rash and negligent driving,” he added.