Myself along with 6 of my friends were returning to Bangalore from Goa by Sea Bird Volvo. The bus came 1.30 hours late and then to make up for the lost time, it started speeding, taking the sharp bends at very high speed. At around 12.45 in the night, after taking yet another sharp bend, the driver lost control of the bus and it started brushing against the roadside trees causing the glass windows to smash and then ended up colliding into a house with thunderous force.
The impact of the accident was such that a lady seated in the bus died in the spot. One of my friend’s hand broke into pieces and he had severe head injuries. A piece of bone from his hand ruptured through the skin and was lost in the accident spot. This was later discovered by the doctors. He had to undergo three major surgeries, last one being a bone grafting surgery was conducted a few days back. Another friend’s 2nd rib was broken. My right toe got fractured as the foot rest fall on it. There were cuts and bruises on all of us as the window glass broke into pieces and pierced through our body. To go with this there were severe back injuries and chest injuries to others in our group. The driver was also severely injured and was lying unconscious.
What happened next is even more shocking and it throws light on the kind of organization Seabird is.
Along with the driver there were helpers and some other crew members. Leave aside any help, they did not even arrange for any alternate vehicle to take the passengers back to Bangalore also there was no First Aid in the bus. We 6 were stranded in this remote place(450 kms from Bangalore) with 1 of us severely bleeding from head and arm and needed immediate medication to survive. With some help from a few fellow passengers we rushed to a local clinic for some preliminary stitches and medication. Police came and took our statements in the clinic. We are not sure whether an FIR was lodged or not(because it may have happened that Seabird authorities had adequately bribed them). Then we came back to Bangalore on a makeshift ambulance for the actual treatment. All along this and even months after that the Sea Bird authorities never contacted us or offered any help. When we tried to contact them they would not respond and would pass the buck saying that for accident cases we need to talk to their director(who would never pick up the call). We lodged a complaint on Makemytrip via whom we booked our tickets, but there was no response.
Now after reading all this it is up to you people to decide whether you will ever make the life threatening mistake of choosing SEA BIRD. The accident occurred purely because of rash and mindless driving. It is hard to find such irresponsible, unprofessional and insensitive travel agent which only cares for money and not even for the lives of its passengers. It is not a one odd case with SeaBird, if you do a little research in internet you will get to know what kind of experiences people have had with this dreadful travel agent. Whatever be it we had the worst experience and are lucky to be alive.