Bus collision in Murshidabad leaves 1 dead and 40 injured

Kolkata: A woman was killed and 40 others suffered injured when two buses collided head on near Berhampore area in Murshidabad on Friday morning.

Seven passengers suffered serious injuries and they are at present undergoing treatment at a hospital close to the accident site, said a source. The incident caused huge traffic congestion in the area following the accident. Vehicles remained stranded for nearly one and half hours due to the accident on the busy National Highway 34.

Police said that a state -owned bus was heading to Berhampore when a private bus was going to Malda along the National Highway 34.

The private bus suddenly hit the state-owned bus coming from the opposite direction.

Local people heard a loud thud and rushed to the spot to find that the frontal portions of both the vehicles were badly damaged.

The villagers started rescuing people before the police reached the spot.

According to the police, passengers from the both the vehicles were injured in the accident. A local resident said the injured persons were traumatised by the impact of the accident. The victims were taken to the Tarapur primary health centre and later the critically injured passengers were shifted to the Jangipur Sub-divisional hospital. According to the district police, one woman passenger, identified as Pali Mondal succumbed to her injuries at the hospital. She was a resident of Raghunathpur area of Farakka.

She was travelling in the state transport bus. Among the injured persons there is a child. Police are yet to divulge the identity of the injured persons.

After being informed police reached the spot and started a probe.

The vehicles were removed from the accident site. The traffic movement was also restored gradually.

According to the preliminary investigation police suspect that both the vehicles were at a high speed as the result of which the drivers could not control their vehicles.

Both the drivers fled from the spot leaving the vehicles at the accident site.

Police have seized both the vehicles.

They are examining if one of the vehicles developed any technical snag at the time of the accident. Police are conducting raids to nab the drivers. A detailed probe has been initiated.