Odisha: 12 dead after bus falls off bridge in Cuttack

At least 12 people were killed and several others injured after a bus carrying over 40 passengers fell off a bridge over the Mahanadi River in Odisha’s Cuttack on Tuesday.

The bus was on its way to Cuttack from the Colliery town of Talcher and was crossing the overbridge neat Jagatpur when a buffalo came in front of the vehicle to the driver to ram the brakes. As a result of the sudden hard breaks, the bus broke through the concrete walls and fell almost 30 feet below to the riverbed.

“So far 7 passengers have been reported dead. The casualties may increase due to the severity of the accident,” Cuttack deputy commissioner of police Akhileswar Singh was quoted as saying by The Hindustan Times.

There was no water where the bus fell, he added.

All the passengers have been rescued, while the injured have been rushed to the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack.

Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik expressed his grief and concerns and has asked Minister Chandra Behera to immediately rush to the incident area and oversee the rescue operations. He will also update the CM minute by minutes.

Meanwhile, state fire services director General BK Sharma, who rushed to the spot with his team confirmed that all the passengers have been rescued by his men and the local volunteers from the bus, which lay on the sandbar beside the riverbed.

Rescue operations were hampered due to lack of light. Besides, it was difficult to approach the site by boat,” said Sharma, reports the daily.

In a similar incident last week, three people were killed after a bus carrying school teachers slipped on a hilly road and fell into a Gorge in Odisha’s Nabarangpur district.

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