Mumbai: The tragic accident that occurred in Mumbai’s Kurla on Monday night around 9:30 PM has left lasting memories for the families of the victims. One of the deceased individuals was a 20-year-old girl identified as Afreen Shah who left her house in the morning for her first day at job. When she stepped out of her home, filled with hope and excitement for her first day at the new job, her father couldn’t have imagined it would be the last time he would see her alive.
Tragically, Afreen became one of the seven victims whose lives were cut short when a speeding BEST air-conditioned electric bus, operating on Route No. A-332, mowed down pedestrians and many vehicles on SG Barve Road in Kurla (West).
Afreen’s father Abdul Salim Shah recounted their last conversation and said that he last spoke to his daughter when she called him complaining that she is struggling to find an auto at Kurla Railway Station while she was returning home after completing her first day at work.
Shah said that he asked her to take the auto from the highway, which falls on a different route where the accident occurred. This was reportedly the last conversation between the girl and her father.
Afreen did not follow her father’s advise to take a different route. Her father believes that if she had taken the alternate route, she might still be alive.
Salim Shah in an interview to a YouTube channel said that he got a call from the Kurla Bhabha Hospital claiming that they have found the mobile phone of his daughter and asked him to come to the hospital immediately.
When he reached the hospital he found the dead body of his daughter. Afreen, his only daughter among three children, had been crushed to death in the tragic incident. Shah painfully disclosed that he had been planning her wedding in the next five to six months.
Shah blamed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), illegal hawkers on the side of the roads, traffic police, corporator, MLA and MP for the accident. He said that the situation has not changed in so many years, people are struggling to even walk on the congested roads encroached upon by these illegal hawkers.
He also said that these hawkers bribe the officials and carry on with their businesses in the area. He demanded strict action against the accused and also urged the government to take measures to curb such incidents in the future.
The accident claimed the lives of seven persons and 42 sustained serious injuries. They were rushed to various hospitals after they suffered severe injuries in the bus accident. The police have arrested the bus driver and the court has sent him to police custody till December 21. BEST has setup a committee to probe the bus accident.
