17 injured after bus overturns in East Midnapore

Kolkata: As many as 17 people were injured, some of them critically, when a bus overturned near Morishda in East Midnapore on Friday.

The incident caused traffic congestion in the Daishai area of Morsihda. The situation was brought under control after the district police officers rushed to the spot and removed the bus from the road.

Locals, however, started the rescue operation before police reached the spot.

Eyewitnesses told police a private bus carrying around 25 passengers suddenly overturned as the driver tried to avert a collision with a state-run bus coming from the opposite direction.

The driver of the bus had applied emergency brake in order to avert the collision but he could not control the vehicle and it

eventually overturned.

Locals brought the injured victims out of the vehicle and took them to Contai Sub-divisional hospital.

It was learnt from the police sources that five passengers suffered serious injuries some of whom had their limbs broken. Many of the passengers were traumatised when they were rescued.

Police said many of the injured passengers were later released from the hospital while some of them were still undergoing treatment. Two persons, including a minor boy, were shifted to a city hospital later in the day as their health condition deteriorated. The boy had received

head injuries.

During a police interrogation, some of the locals said the private bus was running at a high speed as a result of which the driver failed to control the vehicle.

The driver of the private bus and its conductor fled the spot immediately after the accident. Police are investigating the exact cause of the incident. They are conducting raids to nab

the culprits.