Bus accident in Birbhum snuffs out five lives

Five persons, including three women, were killed in a road accident at Ilam Bazar in Birbhum district early on Sunday.

The deceased were passengers of a tourist bus, which had began its journey from Durgapur and had gone to Tarapith through National Highway 60.

During the return journey, the driver reportedly lost control over the wheels, leading to one end of the bus falling into a water-filled ditch. The driver

and 40 other passengers received injuries.

Police rescued the victims from the ditch and admitted them to Ilam Bazar Primary Health Centre, Bolpur Sub Divisional Hospital.

Some of the injured were later taken to a private hospital at Durgapur, but five of them succumbed to their injuries.

The deceased were identified as Kartik Mishra (45), his wife Shanta Mishra (40) and daughter Puja (17), Manorama Mahara (35) and her son Rahul Mahara (12).

Police learnt that the tourist bus first took the passengers to Murshidabad's Hazarduari and then went to Tarapith. The accident occurred when they were returning to Durgapur.

"The driver was probably drunk. He had been driving the vehicle at a very high speed," said a police officer.

In another incident, a women and her five-year-old son came under the wheels of a truck at Rajarhat on Sunday morning.

They were admitted to a hospital by some local residents where the two are reported to be critical.

The locals at Rajarhat said that the truck hit a rickshaw that the mother-son duo was travelling in. The two were on their way home.

"The incident occurred at Rajarhat's Rekjoyani area when the truck was moving back. The driver could not see that the rickshaw was also approaching. The mother-son duo fell on the road and the truck's rear wheels crushed them," said a police officer.

Some locals, meanwhile, alleged that the truck was being used at a construction site, being developed by a local syndicate leader. The vehicle had faulty brakes and its driver knew that the vehicle was not easy to drive.

Despite the faulty parts, the developer allegedly forced the driver to drive the truck.