Baharampur (AMN)
At least 36 people were killed and many injured when a packed bus with more than 60 passengers dashed against the railing of a bridge and plunged into a canal at Daulatabad, about 220 km from Kolkata, in Murshidabad district this morning.
The accident occurred at Balirghat under Daulatabad police station area at 6 am. As per reports, the bus moving at a high speed and lost control, when the driver tried to avoid crashing into a truck coming from the opposite direction.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee cancelled all her prior engagements and decided to head to the spot with transport minister Subhendu Adhikari and principal secretary (transport) Alapan Bandopadhyay. Before leaving she announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh to those dead, Rs one-lakh to those seriously injured; Rs 50,000 to the rest. It was only a little before 5pm the bus was hauled up enough to allow rescuers the scope to break open the bus windows and drag out the bodies.
The chief minister herself supervised the rescue operations for nearly 15 minutes before she headed to the Berhampore hospital.