The 35 odd passengers were returning to Mumbai after celebrating Ganesh Utsav at their native place when the bus met with an accident at 10.30 pm yesterday. Four people died on the spot, say state police control sources. One person died after being brought to Mumbai.

The private luxury bus of Shivkrupa Travels (MH-11/A/6030) was coming to Mumbai from Ratnagiri. The driver was speeding say state police control and at Bharna Naka in Khed, the driver lost control while the bus was crossing a bridge over the river Jagbudi. The bus crashed into the wall and plunged into the river.

While 12 of the injured were brought to Mumbai, the rest were admitted at a hospital in Khed. The condition of those admitted at Khed is not known. Most of the passengers hail from Sangamneshwar district.

Those admitted to KEM Hospital, Parel, are Prakash G Surve (25), Jyotsna D Rane (8), Prashant D Rane (3),Urmila B Thombre (26) and Akshay (6), while Dallaram Rane, Balkrishna Padyal, Atmaram Chinchalkar, Avinash Krishna and Rajendra Waghule were admitted to the trauma centre.

At ward number 3 in KEM Hospital, Jyotsna has been lying unconscious since morning. Says a relative, ``She has not said a word after we met her.'' Jyotsna has lost her mother and her little sister in the accident but she is oblivious of this. ``Her father, who works as a ward-boy at Sion Hospital is at their Mulund house,'' the relative adds.

The family was returning from Sangamneshwar after an eight-day sojourn. Jyotsna's mother, sister and brother were also travelling. Her brother Prashant has been admitted to the hospital with a fracture. His condition is stable. Jyotsna's condition is serious as she has suffered a head injury, KEM officials said, and will require an operation. ``I don't know how the accident happened but people were telling us that it was the driver's fault,'' a relative added.

In another ward in the hospital,Urmila Thombre lies surrounded by her relatives. ``She hasn't said anything to us so far,'' a relative says. Urmila had also gone to Khed, her native place, for the Ganpati festival.

Six-year-old Akshay, accompanied by his uncle, was also operated upon today. As his middle finger (in the right hand) was completely crushed in the accident, it was amputated, doctors said.