Can't Believe: Joke resulted in 33 Deaths

Raigad, July 31: Thirty-three of the 34 people in a bus were killed after it fell into a 500-feet deep gorge near Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra's Raigad district on Saturday. Twenty-five bodies have been recovered so far.

Rescue efforts were severely hampered by heavy rains lashing the Western Ghats, besides poor connectivity in the remote hills in the area

The lone survivor, Prakash Sawant, said a joke was the reason behind the mysterious accident. When all the passengers have suddenly laughed for a hilarious joke then the driver turned his head back resulting in the accident

He also said that mud and loose stones on that particular stretch of the ghat road caused the bus tyres to skid.

"The bus veered to the left and fell into the gorge before we could understand what was happening. Trees arrested the fall someway down. I had managed to jump out in time. I climbed my way up somehow," he said, recounting the tragedy. When Sawant reached the road, he saw a crowd of people.