At least three persons were killed and over five others injured when a bus carrying people to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s programme in Raipur, rammed into a truck in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur district on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the accident occured in the early morning hours on a national highway near Beltara.
The bus, coming from Ambikapur district and carrying some 40 people on board, rammed into the stationary truck which was parked on the side of the road due to a breakdown.
Two people among the injured — Lilu Gupta and Vishambhar Yarav — are BJP functionaries and are reportedly critical, the police said.
Prima facie it appears that the bus driver either dozed or could not control the vehicle amid heavy rain.
Bilaspur Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh told the press that a probe to determine the exact cause of the accident is currently underway.
The deceased were identified as Sajan Sohan (30), Rukdev Singh (45), both from Surajpur district; and Akram Raza Israr (28) from Balrampur.
Israr was one of the two drivers of the bus.
Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel have expressed condolences and has announced compensations of Rs 4 lakh each to family members of the victims.
“A sad news has been received that the bus coming from Ambikapur to attend the meeting of the Prime Minister met with an accident near Bilaspur. May God give peace to their soul and courage to his family members. There is information about people seriously injured. We all wish them a speedy recovery,” Baghel said.