Incidentally, the accident took place hours after Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari, in a speech at an event in Pune, expressed concern about delay in the ongoing work of widening of a 59 km stretch of the same road.
An officer of Rajgad police station said the accident took place at around 1.30 pm when the driver of a container truck rammed into an SUV from behind, and went on to hit an ST bus.
Thirteen passengers in the bus, two people riding the motorcycle and three occupants of the SUV were injured, one of them critically. All were taken to a nearby hospital.
Gadkari had conceded in his speech that the widening work on the Pune-Satara Highway had hit roadblocks, but assured that it would be completed within six months.