Six devotees of the Amarnath Yatra hailing from Hingoli district of the Marathwada region were killed and 21 others injured when their private travel bus collided with another private bus near Malkapur on the Malkapur-Dhule National Highway in Buldhana district early on Saturday morning.
Reports from Hingoli stated that one Shivaji, Dhanaji Jagtap (55), has been conducting a private Amarnath Yatra for the last six years, for which devotees are registered in the area and participate in the Yatra.
Meanwhile, 22 days ago, he had organised the Yatra for this purpose. For this, the devotees of Bhandegaon, Lohgaon, Jaipur, Digras Kanale, and Satamba registered about 30 Devotees who participated in the Yatra.
The incident occurred when all the devotees were returning to the village after taking darshan, but their bus collided head-on with a private bus going from Nagpur to Nashik on the Malkapur Dhule National Highway in the morning. As a result, five of the devotees died on the spot, and one died on the way to the hospital.
The deceased were identified as Shivaji Dhanaji Jagtap (55), Bus Driver Santosh Anandrao Jagtap (38), Radhabai Sakaran Gade (50), Sachin Shivaji Maghade, Gitaba Badrinath Karane (46) and Archana Gopal Ghuske (30), who died on the spot, said Malkapur police. While 22 devotees were injured.
The police said that all the injured were shifted to the government hospital in Buldhana.
After getting information about the incident, Hingoli District Collector Jitendra Papadkar and Disaster Management Officer Rohit Kanje contacted the Malkapur Police, inquired about the injured, and informed the relatives of the deceased.
