Six migrant workers were killed and two others seriously injured when a private bus they were travelling veered off the road and fell into a roadside pond on National Highway-34 at Rupahar under the Raiganj police station in
North Dinajpur district last night.
Three of the deceased have been identified as Todo Murmu, 25, Lakkhi Karmakar, 25, and Mansa Turi, 20, residents of Pakur and Sahebganj in Bihar. The other three are yet to be identified, sources said. Two seriously injured workers are, meanwhile, undergoing treatment in the Raiganj Medical College and Hospital, sources said. A disaster management team from Malda district reached the spot and started the rescue operations, even as they checked
if there were any more bodies under the water.
“The luxury bus with 80 passengers was headed from Bihar to Lucknow at high speed, when it reached Rupahar and the driver lost control over the vehicle and fell into the pond. Police, fire brigade and locals immediately reached the spot and rescued the other passengers and sent them to the Raiganj Medical College & Hospital where six of them were declared dead,” a source said.
“Some labour supply agent from Bihar was sending the workers from Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal to Delhi, Gurgaon and Lucknow in the private bus,” the source added. Some passengers, meanwhile, claimed that the driver of the vehicle was drunk and that he fled after the accident.
The Superintendent of Police of the Raiganj Police district of North Dinajpur, Sana Akhtar, confirmed that six persons had died on the spot. “The exact reason for the accident is yet to be ascertained. We have initiated investigations into it,” Mr Akhtar said.