World

30 Killed, 26 injured as bus takes a 100-ft plunge

by Mritunjay | November 6, 2009 at 04:33 am

231 views | 64 Recommendations | 9 comments

In an unfortunate road accident at least 30 passengers were killed and 26 others injured as an overcrowded 32-seater bus fell into a 100-ft deep gorge in northern India Friday. The injured had been rushed to hospital in the hill town of Dharamshala. Six of the injured are in critical state.

The incident happened in the Haripur area of Himachal Pradesh, about 210 kilometres (130 miles) from the state capital Shimla. While the authorities are still investigating the cause of accident, as per the initial reports the bus was overcrowded and while negotiating a turn the driver lost control of the bus.

The accident took place around 10 am when the driver lost control over the vehicle while negotiating a turn and the bus fell into the 100-feet deep gorge from a road bridge on Baner Khud.
The bus, on way to Dehra from Nagrota Suriyan in the district, had hardly travelled half-a-km from the Guler railway station when the mishap took place.

The injured have been sent to Dr Rajendra Prasad government Medical College Tanda, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Dehra, Rakesh Sharma told PTI from the accident site, about 45 km from here.

According to the report relased by the World Health Organization this year, more than 105,000 people were killed and more than half a million were injured in traffic crashes in 2006 in India. The India government has a plan to curtail the number of road accident deaths by 50 per cent by 2012 and has launched campaigns to achieve the target.

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Rhonda J Mangus

at 04:37 on November 6th, 2009

Let's hope the campaign is successful. This is a lot of deaths/injuries due to traffic accidents.

Mritunjay

at 04:43 on November 6th, 2009

Yes Rhonda, we need safer roads.

JustFriend (not verified)

at 04:59 on November 6th, 2009

MJay, What is needed is removal of bald tires, tight steering components, liquer free and some what educated and responsible driver and removal of road side distractions like women raising their skirts and peeing on road side or taking nude bath in he river down below...

Mritunjay

at 08:26 on November 6th, 2009

Maybe you vision of accidents is a bit restricted! Anyways thanks for reading and commenting.

sara star

at 05:00 on November 6th, 2009

56 people in a 32-seat bus?? The company should be sued!

The dead included the conductor of the bus

Mritunjay

at 05:11 on November 6th, 2009

Hope so! The state would file a case and some token amount would be fined. The bus most probably would be a state transport bus in which case a departmental enquiry would take place which would just be a eye-wash of sorts. :(

Tomorrow again same bus route--same people who survived and same over packed buses!

If things have to improve infrastructure has to improve. No one wants to travel like herds of animals but if they have no other choice this is what people do.

Thanks for reading, commenting and recommending.