At least 32 killed as tourist bus from Hyderabad to Shirdi falls off bridge

Osmanabad, June 16: At least 32 pilgrims were killed and more than 20 injured, some of them seriously, when their bus fell off a bridge in Osmanabad district of Maharashtra in the wee hours of Saturday.

The victims hailing from Hyderabad were returning after a pilgrimage to Shirdi Saibaba Temple in Ahmednagar district, when the mishap occurred at 2:40 a.m., police said.

The injured have been shifted to Solapur civil hospital.

The deceased are yet to be identified.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy has expressed grief over the incident and has directed Chief Secretary Pankaj Dwivedi to help those injured.

A team of medical and government officials from Andhra Pradesh has left for the spot to help the injured and to coordinate with the Maharashtra State officials, Commissioner, Information and Public Relations R. V. Chandravadan said. “We need to get more details about the incident and number of casualties,” he said.

Meanwhile, anxious family members of the victims rushed to the office of the travel agency which was operating the bus at Lakadi-ka-Pul here to find out details of their relatives.