Nine passengers including a child and a woman were killed when the bus they were travelling in overturned early on Saturday morning at Begunbari area under Beldanga police station area in Murshidabad district, police said.
At least 20 passengers, who were injured, are undergoing treatment at Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital. The deceased were identified as Sofikul Sheikh (42) from Trimohini area of Naoda, Ashis Mondal (51) from Beldanga, Aaroj Ali (54) from Kaajisha area of Beldanga, Mainuddin Sheikh (57) from Naoda, Taraknath Dutta (45)and Shanti Mondal (50), also from Naoda, Purnima Roy (58), a housewife from Amtala area of Naoda and Rima Rabi Das (4) from Muraroi area of Birbhum.
One of the deceased is yet to be identified, said officials here.
While plying through early morning fog on Naoda-Beldanga state highway, a Beldanga-bound private bus crammed with commuters came close to a truck rushing from opposite direction, sources said.
When the bus driver’s attempt to swiftly pass the truck failed, he slammed the brakes on in order to avoid head-on collision but the bus turned turtle and rolled over into the road-side ditch, said Krishna Rabi Das, a survivor of the accident.
He said he was with his family members –all seated inside the cabin of the bus. His four year-old daughter, Rima died on the spot while his son, Dip and wife, Koushalya survived by luck. The Murshidabad district administration was quick to identify the families of the accident victims. A team of administrative officials led by the SDO, Behrampore, Dibyanarayan Chatterjee issued compensation cheque of Rs. 2 lakh against each of the dead and disbursed the amount among next of the kin of the deceased.
“For funeral expenses, each of the families of the deceased were also given Rs 2000 under Samabyathi scheme of the state government. We ensured that the victims’ families realize compensation very fast”, said Arit Majumdar, Behrampore sub-division president of Trinamool Congress, who led the relief and rescue team of TMC.