BEST bus collides with metro pillar in Goregaon, 2 injured: Police

A Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) bus, a vehicle wet-leased by the undertaking rammed into a metro rail pillar at Goregaon on Monday evening, injuring two people, police said.

The incident occurred around 5pm at Ittbhatti Junction outside Oberoi Mall.

“While proceeding from Dindoshi Depot to Bhayander Station (East), the bus was taking a right turn beneath the Dindoshi flyover at the traffic signal opposite Oberoi Mall. During the maneuver, the bus grazed the rear right side of a private car and subsequently collided with a metro rail pillar,” a BEST spokesperson shared in a statement.

Two persons sustained injuries and were taken to Trauma Care Hospital in Jogeshwari (East) for medical attention. The injured are Rajendra Murlidhar Sonawane (58), a BEST employee, who suffered a head injury and required three stitches and Mangesh Ramchandra Modlekar (57), a passenger, who sustained injuries to his chin and head and required one stitch on the chin and five stitches on the head, said police.

Minutes after the incident, a police team was deputed to assist. The bus was towed by a BEST towing vehicle and taken to Vanrai police station. The private passenger vehicle owner lodged a complaint against the driver, whose name BEST did not reveal.

This route number 705 bus is operated by wet-lease company Mateshwari Urban Transport Solutions. Earlier this year, there were at least three reported incidents involving the same company.

On July 7, route 512 ran over a 56-year-old civic sanitation worker Jayshri Bhanaji Parmar as she was crossing the road when a signal turned green at Mulund Check Naka.

On May 13 at Andheri West, a chain collision near Amboli Naka involved multiple buses after a fallen tree, crushing and killing a Mateshwari bus conductor Shekhar Baburao Rawate who got trapped between vehicles. On May 24, two BEST buses caught fire at Pratiksha Nagar depot in Sion Depot due to suspected overheating; there were no injuries from this incident.