Five killed, eight injured as bus falls off bridge into dry river in Maharashtra's Satara

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Mumbai: Five members of a family were killed and eight others were injured on Saturday when the bus they were travelling in fell off a bridge and landed into a dry river near Karad town in Maharashtra's Satara district, police said.

The bus was heading to Goa for a picnic, a police official said, adding that the deceased and injured were residents of Vashi in Navi Mumbai.

"Driver Rinku Sahu was speeding when he lost his control over the bus around 4.30-4.45 am at Umbraj on the Pune-Bengaluru highway. The bus hurtled 40 feet down the bridge and landed into dry Tarale river," he said.

Police and rescue teams rushed to the spot and shifted the injured persons to hospital, he said.

The deceased are identified as Usha Nair (40), Madhusudan Nair (42), Aditya Nair (23), Sajan Nair (35) and Aarav Nair (3), the official said, adding that the injured persons, including the driver, are undergoing treatment at a state-run hospital in Karad.

The driver has been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, the official said.