Lucknow: At least six people were killed and 21 injured after a double-decker bus overturned on the Purvanchal Expressway near Gosainganj in Lucknow on Monday.
Police said three passengers died on the spot, while three others succumbed to injuries during treatment. Eight of the injured were shifted to the Apex Trauma Centre of Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences. Doctors at Lok Bandhu Hospital were asked to report for emergency duty as the injured were rushed in ambulances and private vehicles.
The bus was travelling from Ludhiana to Darbhanga when it overturned near the Gosainganj police station limits. Preliminary information suggests the bus was speeding at over 80 kmph when the driver lost control on the expressway. The driver and cleaner fled the spot soon after the accident, police said, adding they, along with locals, launched a rescue operation immediately after reaching the scene.
ARTO Enforcement officer Alok Kumar Yadav said preliminary inputs suggested the bus was overcrowded. Some passengers claimed around 150 people were on board, many of them migrant workers returning after work. The ARTO said the bus had several pending challans and had faced action earlier.
Ranjay Kumar, one of the passengers, alleged the bus had halted at a roadside eatery about 30 minutes before the crash and had travelled around 25 km after that. He claimed the driver appeared intoxicated and was driving at high speed. “After leaving the dhaba, the driver drove recklessly. My brother died in the accident,” he said.