Bhopal/Mumbai: At least 12 passengers were killed and two others missing after a Maharashtra state transport bus fell into the Narmada river from a bridge in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar district on Monday, officials said.
A search operation involving personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and Home Guard jawans is on to trace the missing passengers.
The deceased included the driver and conductor of the Indore-Amalner bus and three women, officials said. The bus had left Indore city at 7:30 AM for Amalner in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra, located about 260 km from Dhar.
Of the 12 deceased, seven passengers hailed from Maharashtra, four from Rajasthan and one from Indore.
MP Home Department's Additional Chief Secretary Dr Rajesh Rajora said all the 12 bodies have been identified through Aaadhar cards and by their kin. The bodies have been sent to their homes in respective states after postmortem in separate ambulances, he added.
He said that 30 personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), 70 of SDERF, 100 of Home Guard and police were engaged in the search and rescue operation.
According to MSRTC officials, the bus left Indore city around 7.30 am.
When the bus was passing the bridge between Khalghat and Thigari at around 10 am to 10.15 am, its driver apparently lost control at the wheel, following which the bus broke off the railings and plunged into the river.
The mangled bus was later pulled out of the river with the help of a crane and traffic movement on the highway was restored, officials said.
The MSRTC has announced to set up a committe to probe the accident.
President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Home Minister Amit Shah expressed grief over the accident. PM Modi has announced Rs 2 lakh each for the next of kin of those who lost their lives in the bus accident.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed grief and tweeted: "Shocked and grieved to know of the tragic road accident in MP today with a Pune-bound bus drowned in the Narmada river and several killed. Condolences to relatives, solidarity to all."
Earlier in the day, MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan informed his Maharashtra counterpart Eknath Shinde that a minister had rushed to the spot to oversee the rescue operation.
Shinde immediately spoke to the MP CM and requested him to ask the Khargone and Dhar district administrations to provide necessary assistance to the accident victims.
He has also directed the MSRTC to ensure immediate payment of Rs 10 lakh ex gratia to relatives of each of the deceased passengers.
MP Minister Kamal Patel told reporters in Khargone district that the Central and the state governments will give a compensation of Rs two lakh and Rs four lakh to the families of each deceased.
The MSRTC has informed that Chandrakant Eknath Patil (45) was driving the bus and Prakash Shravan Chaudhary (40) was the conductor. Both were from Amalner in Jalgaon.
The other deceased from Maharashtra are identified as Neebaji Patil (60), from Amalnergaon; Arva Bora (27), hailing from Murtijapur, Akola; Kalpana Rao (57), from Dhule; Vikas Bahre (33), hailing from Dhule and Avinash Pardeshi (30) from Amalner.
The four deceased from Rajasthan are - Raju Maurya (48) of Chittorgarh, Chetan Jangid (35) hailing from Jaipur, Jagannath Joshi (70) from Udaipur and Rukamani (age not known) of Udaipur.
One deceased from MP's Indore district was Saifuddin (45), a statement of MP Home department read.
The MSRTC has also set up a helpline for citizens and they can dial 022-23023940 to get information about the accident and their kin travelling in the bus.
The bus was more than 10 years old and its fitness certificate was about to expire on July 27, 2023, an MSRTC official said in Mumbai.