Two buses carrying college students & teachers skid off road on way to Mirik

Darjeeling: Two tourist buses out of three on an excursion trip, carrying college students and teachers from Maharashtra, skidded off the road on Thursday night, enroute to Siliguri from Mirik.

The three buses were carrying students and teachers of Hinduja College, Mumbai. The buses, which were on an excursion trip, had arrived at Darjeeling from Gangtok, Sikkim.

After visiting Darjeeling they had visited Mirik. Enroute to Siliguri from Mirik, the accident occurred.

"The accident occurred at Ghayabari jungle area at around 9:00 pm on Thursday. One of the buses had crossed by and the other two skidded off the road while negotiating a sharp bend," stated an officer of Mirik police station.

One of the buses had fallen around 150 feet below the road, while the other one was stuck in a bamboo grove around 30 feet below the road.

20 persons, including college students and teachers, were injured. Out of the 20, 8 were grievously injured. The condition of the driver of one of the buses is reported to be critical.

"We were returning from Siliguri when we spotted the two buses below the road. As the cell network was bad, we drove down to a favourable location, called the police and ambulances. We then rescued the trapped passengers with the help of the police and local residents took them to the hospitals," stated Mamata Subba, head clerk, Mirik Municipality.

The injured are being treated in government hospitals in Mirik and Sukna.