At least four people were killed and 29 others were injured after a speeding BEST bus rammed into pedestrians and several vehicles near Anjum-I-Islam school on SG Barve Marg in Mumbai‘s Kurla West on Monday evening, according to officials.

The deceased have been identified as Afreen Shah, 19; Anam Shaikh, 20; Kanish Kadri, 55; and Shivam Kashyap, 18.

The police have detained the bus driver, 50-year-old Sanjay More, who allegedly claimed a brake failure caused the accident.

However, eyewitnesses alleged that the bus driver was inebriated and could not control the heavy vehicle. Inspector Bharat Jadhav from the state transport department said that prima facie, the bus’s brakes are fine. He added that a detailed analysis would be done later.

The electric bus, plying on BEST’s route number 332, left Kurla station around 9.30 pm and was proceeding towards Agarkar Chowk in Andheri West.

After travelling a distance of just around 100 metres, the bus started hitting vehicles, including two-wheelers riding on the wrong side of the road and two autorickshaws, crushing one of them completely, according to the police.

Despite hitting so many vehicles, the driver failed to control the bus and rammed into several other pedestrians and vehicles.

The bus eventually came to a halt at the gate of Dr Ambedkar Nagar housing complex near the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s L-ward office, the police added.

Aslam Ansari, an eyewitness, said the speeding bus hit at least seven vehicles and several pedestrians.

“We saw two persons lying almost dead in the road,” he said, adding that the bus was full of passengers when the accident took place.

Saad Shaikh, who runs a vegetable shop at the Kurla Market where the accident took place, said he saw at least five people being critically injured in the accident.

Residents broke the bus’ windows and got the passengers out, he said. Fortunately, they escaped with minor injuries, he added.

Shaikh refused to believe that the accident took place because of a brake failure, claiming that the bus was travelling at high speed when he first saw it crashing into vehicles, after which its speed increased further.

“The bus first knocked into a car, then an auto, and then several people. It finally stopped after crashing into the gate of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar,” he said.

“The road was very crowded as people were walking from Kurla station towards their homes and market when the BEST bus suddenly came and started running over people. We pulled out several people, but some of them were seriously injured as they were stuck under the car, auto and bus. We rushed them to the Bhabha hospital. The bus driver had fled the spot after seeing a crowd gather, but was later detained by the police,” added Shaikh.

According to sources in BEST, it was a single-decker AC electric bus of the Olectra brand.

BEST spokesperson Sudas Sawant said that complete information about the accident is being collected by the relevant department and it would be shared once it is available.

“This was a wet lease bus where drivers are expected to complete trips,” said Shashank Sharad Rao, a BEST union leader. “As it is, they are poorly paid by the wet lease operator. We have been demanding that the BEST needs to run its fleet.”

Ravi Raja, former BEST committee member, said the maintenance of BEST buses is a big concern. The authorities are not doing enough to ensure the well-being of the buses on the road.”