New Delhi: The tragic incident took place at an industrial estate in the South Goa district after a private bus rammed into two roadside shanties which caused the death of Four labourers and five others were critically injured, police said.
The accident took place at around 11.30 pm on Saturday when labourers were sleeping in the shanties, all the labourers were engaged in road construction work, police said, PTI reported.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Santosh Desai said the bus driver’s medical examination confirmed he was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident and police have taken him into custody for interrogation.
The bus driver was identified as Bharat Govekar, a resident of the nearby Cartolim village.
A labourer declared that the bus driver threatened the other labourers present at the site to kill them if they complained to anyone about the incident, a police official said.
“Four labourers died on the spot while five were critically injured and admitted to the Goa Medical College and Hospital,” he said.
The police informed that the labourers were employed by a contractor.
“After the incident, the bus driver threatened to kill us if we complained to anyone. The driver was under the influence of alcohol,” claimed Rupender Kumar Mathur, whose uncle Ramesh Mathur and brother Anil Mathur were among those killed in the incident.
He also claimed that due delay in medical help at the accident place caused a delay in taking the victims to the District Hospital in Margao.
Rupender Mathur also said he was staying in one of the accident-affected shanties but at the time of the incident, he had come out to attend a mobile phone call.