Kurla BEST accident: CCTV visuals from inside the BEST bus that killed seven people in the Kurla area of Mumbai show the driver Sanjay More collecting two backpacks from the cabin and jumping out of a broken window after the deadly accident. Several video clips of the bus footage with a duration of 50 seconds to 1.04 seconds are going viral on social media, in which the passengers are seen panicking.
Watch video here:
An electric bus went out of control hitting vehicles and pedestrians on Monday night on a busy street in Kurla (west).
Passengers panicked
It can be seen in the video that the bus was moving at normal speed at first, but suddenly the speed of the bus increased. Some passengers tried to tightly grip the poles and grab handles, while others rose from their seats to know what was happening on the streets as the bus moved forward. As soon as the bus came to a halt, passengers began jumping out through the shattered windows. Most avoided using the bus gate, fearing delays as they would have to wait for their turn to exit.
A clip also shows the driver Sanjay More getting up and moving to the cabin, picking up two backpacks, and jumping out of a broken window on the left side of the bus. The bus conductor got down from the rear side door.
7 killed, 42 injured
The BEST bus crashed on SG Barve Road in Kurla around 9.30 pm on Monday, killing seven people and injuring 42 others. Police later arrested the driver, Sanjay More, and sent him to police custody till December 21, charging him with culpable homicide. The Regional Transport Officer (RTO) shared a preliminary assessment report with the police, stating that there was no technical fault in the bus.
According to details that have emerged so far, More had no experience in driving electric vehicles and had undergone only a ten-day training for steering EVs. He was only given three rounds of training on the e-bus by the wet lease contractor, appointed by the transport utility to run the fleet. This is contrary to BEST's internal standard operating procedure (SOP), according to which drivers moving from manual to e-bus have to undergo a six-week refresher.
Top officials of BEST and Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) also held a meeting with private operators on Wednesday to focus on training of drivers and additional safety measures.
BEST said it will also make breath analyser tests mandatory for drivers in the wake of the Kurla accident. In the meetings, officials also sought information from private operators about the training given to drivers, their appointment criteria, training infrastructure and modules. BEST has been directed to conduct an internal inquiry into the accident and submit a report, which will be sent to the state government, officials said.
