India, July 21 -- A pedestrian unused to Mumbai's chaotic streets, a BEST bus driver who says the brakes failed, and passengers who complain that buses on route 501 are routinely in poor condition. As investigators piece together what happened in Mankhurd, a ground report examines the circumstances surrounding the fatal crash.

The bus driver, Banwari Sharma, 51, says he had worked with Mateshwari Urban Travels, the wet-lease operator of the bus in question, in Jaipur and Gujarat for 14 years. "I have been driving BEST buses in Mumbai for the last three years," he said.

Sharma told HT he applied the brakes to slow the bus while turning left, to approach the bus stop at the exit point on the Sion-Panvel highway opposite Vishwakarma Hospit...