Mumbai BEST bus crash: Girl who started her first job died on way back home; driver says 'I was confused' — 5 points

A Mumbai court sent BEST bus driver Sanjay More to police custody till December 21 after a tragic accident resulted in 7 deaths and 42 injuries. The driver has been charged with culpable homicide, while BEST has formed a committee to investigate and announce compensation for the families of the victims.

A Mumbai court on Tuesday sent the driver of the BEST bus, which was involved in a tragic accident yesterday resulting in seven deaths and 42 injuries, into police custody till December 21. The driver Sanjay More has been charges with culpable homicide not amounting to murder following the devastating crash which happened on Monday. Meanwhile, BEST has formed a committee to investigate the bus mishap and declare compensation for the families of the dead.
The civic-run BEST operated bus collided with several other vehicles and pedestrians at about 9.30 pm on Monday on SG Barve Marg, Kurla (West). More, who was sitting behind the wheels of the bus, was taken into custody shortly after the accident and later detained under the BNS act. The police took More to a magistrate court for remand to further inquire into the accident. MORE was remanded to their custody till December 21. Check all the updates here:

All about the victims

Afrin Shah, who was just starting her first job today, was one of the seven people killed in a BEST bus accident in Mumbai on Monday. Shah was going home when the fatal accident occurred. She couldn't get a rickshaw and called her father, Abdul Salim, asking him to ask her to go to Kurla station. Just when she was supposed to walk into Kurla station, Salim got a call to rush to the hospital. When he reached the hospital, he found Afrin's body.
Another victim was Kannis Ansari, a nurse, who was coming back from hospital when the accident happened. She was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. The other victims were identified as Anam Sheikh, Shivam Kashyap, Vijay Gaikwad, and Faruq Chaudhari.

Driver says ‘absence of clutch in the automatic vehicle left him confused’

On how the accident happened, More disclosed that previously he had driven manual transmission buses for a private contractor and was uncomfortable with the automatic transmission of the electric bus, which he had been assigned on December 1, The Times of India reported. He also said that the absence of a clutch in the automatic vehicle left him confused while driving.

What eyewitnesses say

• Meanwhile, eye witnesses said that the bus driver was drunk and not handling the huge vehicle properly. The police said that as soon as the bus ran about 100 meters it started hitting vehicles including two-wheelers which were plying on wrong side and two autorickshaws, one of which is completely crushed.
• Even after crushing several vehicles, the driver could not regain control of the vehicle and crashed into pedestrians and more vehicles.