Maharashtra varsity sends sole survivor of bus accident on long leave
Pune, Aug 30 : A month after 30 staffers of BSKK University were killed when their bus plunged into a 600-feet deep gorge, the sole survivor of the tragedy has been sent on 'long leave' for an indefinite period, a top official said on Thursday.
"The decision has been taken by the university administration. This is pending the submission of a report of the enquiry instituted by us into the incident," Deputy Registrar A.S. Pawar of Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth told IANS.
The only person who emerged unscathed from the accident on the early morning of July 28 was Prakash Sawant-Desai, an Assistant Director with the university.
On Tuesday, around 250 angry relatives of the other deceased staffers staged a noisy protest in the university campus at Dapoli, demanding dismissal or suspension of Sawant-Desai.
Sensing their aggressive mood, the university sent Sawant-Desai on long leave till the outcome of the internal probe into the tragedy. Police have already questioned the survivor but have not unearthed anything suspicious.
Some relatives told mediapersons that Sawant-Desai was allegedly driving the bus when it was crossing the treacherous Ambenali Ghats at Poladpur, en route to the famed Mahabaleshwar hill-station where the staffers were proceeding for their annual picnic.
Suddenly, the bus slipped off the ghat roads and plunged into the gorge, killing 30 - barring Sawant-Desai.
The official later said that he climbed up the hills taking support of small trees and bushes, reached the top and then informed the university authorities of the disaster.
Sawant-Desai also said he managed to survive by jumping out of the falling bus, grabbed a tree branch to which he hung on before clambering up to the road, more than three hours after the plunge.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
