Vadodara: Five passengers were killed and five others injured after a luxury bus travelling from Surat to Rajasthan rammed into a truck on the Ahmedabad-Vadodara Expressway in Anand district in the wee hours of Wednesday, police said.The accident occurred around 3am near Boriyavi when the bus attempted to overtake the truck. According to Anand superintendent of police Gaurav Jasani, the truck was travelling in the correct lane, away from the divider, when the bus tried to pass it.Speaking to TOI, SP Jasani said, “The bus was trying to overtake the truck. Another luxury bus was ahead of it and had already overtaken the truck. The driver of the second bus followed it but could not see the rear of the truck because his visibility was blocked. As a result, the entire left side of the bus scraped against the truck.”Passengers seated or sleeping on the left side of the bus bore the brunt of the impact, leaving several dead or injured. The bus was carrying around 30 to 40 passengers at the time of the accident.Four of the injured are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Nadiad, while another has been shifted to Ahmedabad for further medical care, police said.The injured were identified as Ganesh Jadav (39) and Vidhjeet Bhatchadla (22), both residents of Surat; Ramesh Sharma (60), Vishal Trivedi (20), from Nadiad; and Rajnikant Kanchan (60), from Rajasthan.Police personnel and local residents rushed to the accident site after receiving information and launched a rescue operation. The bodies of the deceased were sent for post-mortem examinations after the police formalities were completed.Ganesh Jadav, one of the survivors, told police that he had been asleep when a loud bang suddenly jolted him awake. Panic erupted inside the bus as passengers began screaming after realising that the vehicle had crashed.“We have no clue how the accident happened,” Jadav said.The news of the accident plunged the victims’ families into grief, with relatives rushing to hospitals after learning of the tragedy.A relative of one of the deceased said the family had seen him off when he boarded the bus in Surat.“My brother-in-law has died. We immediately travelled from Surat to the spot. My sister has two young sons. The govt should compensate the families who have been killed,” the relative said outside the hospital in Nadiad.Among those killed was Jitendrasinh Zala (32), a resident of Sabarkantha, who was returning home after visiting his in-laws. His brother, Vipul, said the family rushed to the scene after receiving a phone call about the accident. “I got a phone call and rushed from Sabarkantha. We still do not know what happened,” he said.Describing the family’s uncertain future, Vipul said Zala had left behind his wife and two children, aged 10 and 8. The family depends on farming for its livelihood.“We are farmers. He left behind a wife and two children. Since my father has already passed away, now I am the only male member in our family. I have not even begun thinking about how I will manage both our families,” he added.The damaged bus and truck were removed from the expressway, and traffic, which had been disrupted following the crash, was later restored.Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences to the families of those killed and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured.“Deeply saddened by the loss of lives in a mishap in Anand, Gujarat. Condolences to the bereaved families. I pray for the speedy recovery of all those injured,” Modi said in a post on X.
