Five killed, 26 injured as buses collide at Omerga

AURANGABAD: Five people were killed and 26 injured, eight of them seriously, in a collision between Maharashtra and Karnataka state transport corporation buses in Omerga taluka of Osmanabad district on Friday.
The drivers of the two buses were among those killed in the head-on collision, which happened at a turn near the Yenegur village.
The MSRTC bus was on its way to Pune from Omerga while Karnataka state bus was heading toward Aland in Karnataka from Tuljapur when they collided around 7.30 am, said Chandrakant Khandvi, deputy superintendent of police, Omerga.
The police and residents of nearby villages rushed to the spot to rescue the passengers from the badly damaged buses, he said.
“The drivers of both the buses, Laxman Dattoba Mehetre (34) of Wangi in Bhum taluka, posted at MSRTC’s Indapur depot, and Apanna Shivrai Telikune (36) of Jidga in Aland taluka of Gulbarga district, posted at Aland depot, were among the five people who died on the spot,” said V G Gobare, assistant police inspector of the Murum police.
The passengers who died in the accident were Shivaji Marutirao Salunkhe (40) and his elder brother Waman, both residents of Omerga, and Rahul Ramakant Katare (31) of Tuljapur in Osmanabad district.
Gobare told TOI that all the 26 injured were taken to the Omerga hospital, from where the seriously injured were referred to a Solapur hospital.