- Tuesday, November 05, 2024
The bus plunged into a 200-metre gorge in Almora’s Marchula. It was reduced to a mangled mess after it rolled down the forested, rocky slope
By: Shajil Kumar
AN OVERLOADED bus carrying passengers returning to work after Diwali holidays fell into a deep gorge in Uttarakhand’s Almora district on Monday, killing at least 36 of the about 60 people on board.
Twenty-four people were injured, four of them critically, when the 43-seater bus, operated by the private Garhwal Motor Owner Association, was on its way from Pauri in Garhwal region to Ramnagar in Kumaon about 250 km away. The accident took place around 8 am, almost the fag end of the overnight journey, said District Magistrate Alok Kumar Pandey.
The bus plunged into a 200-metre gorge in Almora’s Marchula area 35 km before its destination Ramnagar, he said.
Visuals from the area pointed to the magnitude of the accident, the vehicle reduced to a mangled mess as it rolled down the forested, rocky slope and stopped just short of a stream. Rescuers could be seen working to pull out the passengers.
Of the 36 killed, 10 are women.
A magisterial probe has been ordered and the assistant regional transport officers of Pauri and Almora suspended.
The injured were taken to the nearest hospital in Ramnagar. Of the four critically injured, three were airlifted to AIIMS, Rishikesh, and one to the Sushila Tiwari Hospital in Haldwani, Almora District Disaster Management Officer Vineet Pal said.
According to Pal, around 60 people were on board the 43-seater bus when the accident took place. The overloading of the vehicle could have led to the tragedy, he added.
At the hospital in Ramnagar, doctors, nurses and medical staff stepped into high gear to treat the injured, many of them bleeding and in visible agony.
Only one of the three admitted to the trauma centre at AIIMS, Rishikesh, was in a position to speak and give his name.
“He introduced himself as Ashok Kumar. The rest have been registered as unidentified,” the institute’s PRO Sandeep Kumar said.
A doctor from AIIMS, Rishikesh, has gone to the spot in an air ambulance to see if more help is needed, he said.
Police and personnel of the National and State Disaster Response Forces rushed to the spot to launch a search and rescue operation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge were among those who expressed their grief at the loss of lives in the accident and prayed for the quick recovery of the injured. (PTI)
