6 migrant labourers dead after bus falls in ditch

BALURGHAT: Six migrant workers were killed as their bus fell into a ditch in Bengal's North Dinajpur district, police said on Thursday. The incident happened around 10 pm on Wednesday when the chartered bus, carrying around 20 migrant labourers from different districts of Bengal and Jharkhand, was heading to Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, they said.

The bus fell into a ditch along the National Highway-34 at Rupahar in Raiganj police station area, they added. Two persons were injured and they were admitted to the Raiganj Medical College and Hospital. Police said they were searching the ditch with the help of divers to find if anyone is still missing. The migrant workers returned to their homes during the lockdown. They were now going back to their workplaces after getting both doses of the vaccination, police said.

After picking up some labourers from Jharkhand, the bus came to Bengal to get the workers living here.

When the incident happened, it was heading towards Lucknow, via Purnia and Patna in Bihar. Superintendent of Police of Raiganj Mohammad Salma Akhtar, MLA of Itahar Mosharaf Hussein and vice-chairman of Raiganj Municipality Arindam Sarkar reached the spot.

SP Mohammad Salma Akhtar said: "The number of deaths may increase as the search operation is still continuing. We are trying to identify the deceased persons. A full-fledged investigation will be conducted to know the reason behind the accident and the police will file a case for the incident."

MLA Mosharaf Hussein said the migrant labourers were all involved in construction work.