61 injured in Himachal bus accident
TRAGIC 45-seater bus carrying 72 passengers skids off road near Aut in Mandi district
SHIMLA: Sixty one passengers were injured when a private mini bus (HP-66-1614) carrying them skidded off the road and rolled down a hill in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district on Monday, police said. The 45-seater bus was carrying 72 passengers in all. Sixty injured were admitted to Kullu hospital, while one was refereed to PGI in Chandigarh.
SHIMLA: Sixty one passengers were injured when a private mini bus (HP-66-1614) carrying them skidded off the road and rolled down a hill in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district on Monday, police said. The injured were mostly school children and government employees.
The 45-seater bus was coming to Kullu town from Jawalapur when it met with the accident at Rudrudhar area.
Eyewitness Leelamani, a resident of Ruhru village, filed an FIR, stating that the accident occurred due to overcrowding and negligent driving. He said 72 passengers were travelling in the bus when the accident happened.
“Fifty six passengers were admitted to the Regional Hospital in Kullu, three at Kullu Valley Hospital and two at Community Health Centre (CHC), Nagwain,” said police, adding that one of the injured, Dhuni Chand, was referred to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh.
Deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Hitesh Lakhanpal, along with police and revenue department team rushed to the spot and supervised rescue operation.
The local administration had a tough time extracting the victims from inside the bus. Villagers had already started rescuing the injured before the authorities reached the spot.
“As the bus rolled down the hill, it got stuck on a tree that prevented it from sliding further,” survivor Rajat Thakur told police.
The bus was in poor condition, not fit to ply the narrow badly damaged roads after the recent rains.
Scarcity of buses and poor frequency of governmentrun buses in the area are to be blamed for overloading of public transport vehicles.
Meanwhile, the police have registered a case under Section 279 and 337 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).