Maharashtra: Bus carrying 36 passengers catches fire on Mumbai-Pune Expressway

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A private bus carrying 36 passengers caught fire at the Mumbai-Pune Expressway near Vadgaon on Saturday, an official said, reported news agency ANI.

Fire tenders are on the spot and engaged in dousing fire on Mumbai-Pune Expressway, reported ANI.

All the passengers were evacuated in time, and no casualties were reported in the fire on Mumbai-Pune Expressway, reported ANI.

Further details are awaited.

In another incident, a Mumbai cop who was reportedly returning from a relative's funeral died in an accident on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway in the early hours of April 21, an official said, reported the PTI.

The cop, identified as a police sub-inspector (PSI) Suraj Chaugule (55) was driving to his Navi Mumbai home in a car after attending the funeral of a relative in Maharashtra's Raigad district when he met with the accident around 3 am, the official said, according to the PTI.

Suraj Chaugule, who was attached to the Parksite police station in Mumbai's Vikhroli area, reportedly lost control over the wheel near Panvel and the vehicle crashed into the railing along the first lane of the expressway's Mumbai-bound arm. He was alone in the car, the official said, as per the PTI.

After being alerted by the locals, police rushed Suraj Chaugule to a nearby hospital but doctors declared him dead, he said, the news agency reported on Sunday.

The car in which he was travelling was badly damaged, the official added.

Meanwhile, two persons were killed and six injured, some of them seriously, after a drunk man driving a tempo knocked down pedestrians and two-wheeler riders in Maharashtra's Palghar district, police said on Friday, reported the PTI.

The incident took place in the Wada area on Wednesday night, he said. The police have arrested the tempo driver but are yet to share his details.

The tempo first hit pedestrians Ashok Kalingada (36) and Ajinkya Berde (35), killing them on the spot. The drunk driver then rammed the vehicle into a few two-wheelers, injuring six persons, a police official said, reported the PTI.

The injured individuals have been admitted to a local hospital where some of them are said to be in critical condition, he said, reported the PTI.

The station house officer of Wada police station said the tempo driver has been booked under the Indian Penal Code for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and the Motor Vehicles Act.

(With inputs from PTI)