When Savita Devi, 45, left home for work on Monday morning, little did her family know this was the last time they would see her.
Shortly after she left, her son-in-law Arun received a call from police asking him to reach Maharaja Agrasen Hospital in Punjabi Bagh. The DTC bus she took to work had rammed into a pillar near Shivaji Park metro station in west Delhi, killing her and injuring 34 others.
"I rushed to the hospital with my wife. Doctors at the hospital had declared my mother-in-law dead. There were injury marks on her head and legs. I learnt that she was sitting behind the bus driver's seat," said Arun.
"My mother-in-law used to travel by bus every day to go to Naraina for work," he said.
Savita Devi, who worked as a sweeper with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), was the sole breadwinner of her family. Her husband Om Prakash died due to an ailment.
"Savita had a son and a daughter. Both of them are married," a police officer said.
According to police, the bus driver claimed he lost control of the vehicle when a motorcycle and an autorickshaw moving ahead took a sharp right turn. He claimed he tried to stop the bus to avoid a collision but ended up hitting the pillar the police said.
As the bus driver suddenly applied the brakes, another autorickshaw behind the bus rammed into it. Passengers of the autorickshaw were among those injured.
