Kurla BEST bus crash: 55-year-old man succumbs to injuries, toll rises to 8

The smashed front of the electric bus involved the accident. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

A civic official said that a 55-year-old man, who was among the several persons injured in the BEST bus accident in Kurla area, died on Monday morning, taking the death toll to eight, reported news agency PTI.

The electric bus, hired by the civic-run Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking on a wet-lease basis, ploughed into a crowd and fatally knocked down seven persons and injured 42 others on a crowded road in the Kurla area on December 9.

Several vehicles were also damaged in the incident.

One of the injured persons, identified as Fazlu Rehman, died during treatment at the Sion Hospital on Monday morning, the official from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said, reported PTI.

BEST has set up a five-member committee to investigate the Kurla BEST bus crash.

Driver Sanjay More (54) is in police custody for alleged reckless driving.

In a statement issued last week, BEST said a committee, headed by Chief Manager (Transport) Ramesh Madavi, will investigate the Kurla BEST bus crash, reported PTI.

It also said that BEST would provide Rs 2 lakh each to the families of those who lost their lives and bear treatment expenses of the injured, reported PTI.

BEST administration has claimed that More received three days' training before he was allowed to drive the electric bus, reported PTI.

RTO officials suspect human error and lack of proper training for driving automatic transmission buses could be the reason behind the accident, among the most horrific involving BEST buses in recent history.

Driver flees through window with backpacks after deadly Kurla bus crash

Shocking footage has emerged from a tragic incident in Mumbai's Kurla area, where a Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) electric bus veered out of control, leaving seven people dead and 42 others injured. According to PTI, CCTV footage from the bus shows the driver, Sanjay More, hastily collecting two backpacks from the cabin and leaping out of a shattered window following the accident.

Several video clips, ranging from 50 seconds to over a minute, have gone viral on social media. These visuals capture the harrowing moments inside the bus, with passengers clinging to poles and grabbing handles in an attempt to stay safe. Others stood up, visibly alarmed, to assess the chaos unfolding on the streets.

In one clip, after the bus swerved to a halt, passengers can be seen escaping through shattered windows. The driver, More, was captured on CCTV leaving the cabin with two black backpacks and jumping out through a broken window on the left-hand side of the bus. Meanwhile, the conductor exited through the rear door.

(With inputs from PTI)