At least 41 people, including 10 women, were killed when a bus plunged into the Ghogra Canal after breaking the railing of a bridge in Murshidabad district on Monday, 29 January, police said, according to ANI
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that everyone was rescued by 12 pm.
You have seen that we have rescued everyone by 12 pm... We have already given compensation of Rs 5 lakh, now we have to track if anyone is missing and we have asked to put a restriction on the speed.
According to a PTI report, the incident triggered protests with locals alleging delay in the arrival of police and attacking the force. They also torched a police vehicle.
Locals then went on to damage a fire tender when the fire brigade personnel reached the spot to douse the fire in the police vehicle. Police used batons to disperse the mob.
The bus accident occurred at Balirghat under Daulatabad Police Station area at around 6 am.
The bus was going from Shikarpur in Nadia district to Malda.
Locals claimed that around 50-60 passengers were in the bus. There was, however, no official confirmation of the number of passengers travelling in the bus.
The bus was found deep inside the canal at around noon and efforts are on to pull it out, official sources said.
According to the PTI report, official sources claimed that it took eight hours to locate and lift the bus out of the canal and five hydraulic cranes were used for this purpose.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who rushed to the accident site, said:
The bus driver might have been unmindful. There was fog also.
State Transport Minister Suvendu Adhikari told PTI that the chief minister will stay back in Baharampur to oversee the search and rescue operation.
According to sources, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) came together with the state disaster management personnel in the rescue operation reported PTI. Deep water divers were deployed and a control room was opened in the Murshidabad district to give information about the accident.
The district management and senior police officers are on the sport to supervise the rescue operation.
Locals claimed that there were around 60 people in the bus, however, there is no official confirmation on the number of passengers.
Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee has announced compensation of Rs 5 lakh to each family that lost their loved ones in the accident, Rs 1 lakh to those who suffered serious injuries and Rs 50,000 to other injured people.
According to the PTI report, Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi expressed his sorrow as well as condolence to the bereaved families.
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