A Pune-Nagpur sleeper bus fell into a 20-foot-deep nullah after breaking through the safety wall of a bridge on the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar–Jalna Road, killing its cleaner and injuring 28 passengers in the early hours of Saturday. Two injured passengers were reported to be in critical condition.
The deceased was identified as Sai Sanjay Shinde, 22, a resident of Kalikanagar in Shirdi, Ahilyanagar. The bus, bearing registration number MH 43 CK 0800, was travelling from Pune to Nagpur and had crossed Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar before heading towards Jalna.
According to the report, the bus was carrying two drivers, two cleaners and 25 passengers. It crashed near Fetehpur Shivar at around 4.30 am after the driver reportedly lost control while crossing a bridge on the narrow road. The vehicle broke through the bridge’s safety walls and fell into the nullah, leaving passengers trapped inside.
Passengers cried for help in the darkness after the crash. An ambulance driver from the Jagadguru Narendracharya Maharaj Sansthan reached the site and transported the injured to the Government Medical College and Hospital in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
Police suspect that the driver may have dozed off while driving, but the exact cause of the crash has not yet been established. The investigation is expected to examine the driver’s physical condition, the speed of the bus, his working hours and whether he had received sufficient rest before starting the journey.
The circumstances place attention on several operational factors that investigators routinely examine after long-distance bus crashes, including driver fatigue, shift arrangements, vehicle speed and the condition of road-edge safety infrastructure. In this case, the bus crossed the bridge’s protective wall before falling into the nullah, while the report identifies the road as narrow.
The crash also disrupted movement on the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar–Jalna route. Traffic was completely blocked after the accident as police and local residents cleared broken pieces of the bridge’s safety wall and restored movement.
The investigation will determine whether driver condition, road geometry, speed, the bridge safety barrier or a combination of factors contributed to the accident. Until that process is completed, the cause remains unconfirmed.
