36 dead in bus crash in Murshidabad

Thirty-six people, including two children, died after a bus toppled over in West Bengal's Murshidabad early on Monday, reports The Times of India.

The incident took place when the bus they were travelling in toppled over Balirghat bridge under Daulatabad police station in West Bengal's Murshidabad, 12 kilometres off Berhampore while trying to avoid a truck closing in from the opposite direction.

The driver of the bus, carrying 56 people (as per police), was speaking on his cell-phone while driving even refusing to heed to repeated pleas by passengers not to do so.

The North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC) bus was scheduled to leave Karimpur (Nadia) at 5:20am for Malda. It left 25 minutes later, at 5:45 am. Around 6:55am, it was crossing the bridge. Ziarul Haq, an eyewitness, said a truck was coming from the opposite direction (Berhampore). "It was foggy. All we saw was the truck coming perilously close to the bus. Desperate to avoid the truck, the bus swerved to the right and fell over the bridge," he said.

The locals spotted three bodies and seven people who were alive. They were taken ashore. Prabhati Haldar, believed to be in her mid-thirties, survived the crash only to die within minutes after being rescued.

Police reached the spot 40 minutes later after the incident took place. They, however, at that point were visibly unprepared. It was only around 9am that a large police contingent reached the spot. Angry locals brickbatted at police setting ablaze two government vehicles. Police had to lathicharge, burst tear gas shells and even fired four blank rounds in the air to disperse the mob. As the situation threatened to spiral out of control and take focus off from the imminent rescue operations, Nabanna acted with alacrity.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee cancelled all her prior engagements and decided to head to the spot with transport minister Subhendu Adhikari and principal secretary (transport) Alapan Bandopadhyay. Before leaving she announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh to those dead, Rs one-lakh to those seriously injured; Rs 50,000 to the rest. It was only a little before 5pm the bus was hauled up enough to allow rescuers the scope to break open the bus windows and drag out the bodies.

The chief minister herself supervised the rescue operations for nearly 15 minutes before she headed to the Berhampore hospital.