The sea bridge accident that occurred on Thursday evening not only claimed the lives of eight people, but also tore families apart. Among the dead was 37-year-old Swati Navalkar. Her parents, Shanta and Dattatraya Dabhade; Her friend Mukshita Reddy’s three-year-old daughter; The driver of the car was Dhananjay Kohli.
What was supposed to be a day of prayer, gratitude and celebration ended as a tragedy that left Swati’s sister Komal, her husband Santosh and two children Ankita and Sarthak devastated. Her daughter is in 10th grade and her son is a first-year data science student.
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According to neighbours, Swati had taken it upon herself to promise her father, who was previously paralyzed, to restore his mobility. Thursday was her fifth and final visit to the Narayanpur temple. She decided to take her parents with her for the final darshan. It was also her daughter Ankita’s birthday, and her friend had come from Tirupati to celebrate. Little Mukshita, only three years old, insisted on accompanying Swati on the trip.
“It was her daughter’s birthday, and they were going to celebrate. They just received a phone call that she would be arriving soon,” said Sumit Shrivastav, a neighbour. “She left at 3 p.m., and the accident happened at 5:30 p.m. We learned about the accident at 8:30. At 9:30, we learned she was no longer there. They didn’t want to take the 3-year-old with them, but she was adamant. It’s just questions and questions, no answers. I’m too afraid to leave the house. Anything could happen.”
Her friends struggled to process the loss of a woman remembered for her warmth, hard work and the easy way she built relationships.
“She had a happy face. She was very beautiful. She was always happy and cheerful. She never hesitated to help anyone. She was the type of person who would rush to help someone even in the middle of the night. I get goosebumps just hearing her name,” said Kanchan Joshi, a close confidant of the Navalkar family. “For 15 to 20 years, she was running her own beauty salon, working hard and I could never have imagined something like this.”
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“She never treated us like workers, she always treated us like family,” said Tania Timjari, one of her employees. “She never shouted at us, she created a bond with everyone. She used to say this is your salon, you have to take care of it. Clients were coming from as far as Aundrey, Katraj, Hadapsar, Kothrud, and that was the bond she created.”
Shubhanji Pandkar, who visits the salon regularly, said: “I have known her for 10 years, and she was always cheerful, always had a smile on her face, never hurt anyone, and cared about everyone.” “If the clients didn’t have money, she would tell them not to worry about it. She had two children. Her sister Komal lost her parents and so did her elder sister. What would the family do?”
“I have known her for 18 years, and I work as a housemaid in the building where she used to live. They recently moved. She was always cheerful. She would often take me to places I wanted to go. We met only a few days ago at the grocery store. I heard about the accident but learned much later that it had claimed her life,” Bharati Akhadi said.
The accident claimed 8 lives and injured around 13 others after a speeding truck collided with several vehicles in the Navali Bridge area on Katraj Dehu Bypass on Pune-Bangalore Expressway on Thursday evening.
(tags for translation) Deaths in Sea Bridge Accident
