Samaritans from BEST save school students, cleaner's lives in bus crash

MUMBAI: For these BEST staffers, it was yet another early morning call to fix cables for a power outage in south Mumbai on Wednesday. But when they saw that a school bus ahead of their emergency van had met with a crash on JJ flyover, with young children on board, they couldn't leave the spot unattended.
Sadu Khateli, a BEST technician, said : "We were shocked to see the school bus accident.The cleaner and a school boy had fallen out of the bus on the road and were bleeding. There were cries for help. There were seven of us and we quickly responded."
One of the BEST staffers hailed a private vehicle which was passing by and requested the driver to take a few injured to the hospital. "We quickly picked up the injured and rushed them to a local hospital," he said. A few staffers helped the other school students get out of the bus which was damaged and in bad condition after the crash.
"We were happy that we were able to save lives as the injured were rushed to hospital during the golden hour of the crash," Khateli said.
Two 12 years old students and a cleaner were injured after the driver of the bus lost control due to overspeeding. The bus was headed towards a south Mumbai school when the accident took place at a turn on the JJ flyover early on Wednesday. The bus, in which 18 school students were travelling, first dashed on the left side of the road and then crossed over the divider and went on the opposite side of the road.
The BEST staffers were felicitated by the power supply division at the headquarters in Colaba on Thursday. Those involved in the noble act were Khateli along with Pralesh Chinakhwa, Satish Gawli, Pradeep Bhondve, Suryakant Serve, Sandeep Surve and Ananda Medar.
Said a senior BEST official : "It was the presence of mind shown by our power supply division staff which helped rescue and also save the lives of school students. We are really proud of this team."