“We left late at night and were exhausted. Most of us were asleep. The driver was driving very fast. The ropes with which our ‘dhols’ were tied on the bus had loosened and at one point I got off to tighten them. At that time too, I asked the driver to drive slow,” 17-year-old Roshan Shelar from Goregaon told The Indian Express.

“Minutes before the accident, the bus shuddered. We felt a tyre had burst. We soon realised that the driver had lost control. It felt as if the bus was flying in the air. Its roof came off. Some of my friends were flung out of the bus,” said Shelar, who is now recovering at Panvel’s MGM hospital. He has sustained injuries to his feet.

Thirteen people, including at least five minors, died as the private bus ferrying 44 people fell into a 360-feet deep ravine along the route of the old Mumbai–Pune Highway in Raigad district. The 27 who sustained injuries were moved to either Khopoli Nagarpalika hospital or Panvel’s MGM hospital.

The bus was on way to Mumbai from Pimpri-Chinchwad when it plunged into the ravine in the Bor Ghat mountain pass section, better known as Khandala Ghat.

The group was largely composed of young students, with a majority of victims in the 12-22 age group. After performing at the four-hour long event, the troupe left Pune around 2.30 am and reached Khopoli around 4 am, which is when the accident occurred, the police said.

The passengers — most of whom were members of musical troupe Baji Prabhu Dhol Pathak based at Goregaon in Mumbai — had been invited to perform the traditional ‘dhol tasha’ at a rally celebrating Ambedkar Jayanti.

“We felt the bus was going at 80 kmph in the ghats,” another 16-year-old survivor said. “Luckily, the police and other authorities arrived quickly,” he added.

Hailing from Dharavi, he fractured his arm in the accident and was admitted to MGM hospital after being treated at Khopoli Nagarpalika hospital initially.

The first call to the police was made by one of the passengers named Harsh. Having sustained minor injuries to his eyebrow, he helped himself up and dialled 108 first. “I got no response from 108, so I dialled 100 and it worked. The police arrived within minutes and as the word spread, several groups joined in to help us,” Harsh, who is from Kandivali, said. After the initial shock, he soon started helping his friends.

Kartik Barot, another survivor, perhaps had one of the most miraculous escape as he escaped without a single scratch. “The bus started shaking and all of a sudden, we were all up in the air.

When the bus hit the ground, there was dust all around, followed by shrieking of the passengers,” the 19-year-old said. He soon joined the rescue operations assisting the police. He said he was praying for his friends’ recovery and hoped to resume their ‘dhol tasha’ sessions soon.