36 dead as bus falls into W Bengal canal

Thirty-six people were killed and several missing after a bus with around 50 passengers crashed through a bridge railing and plunged into a canal in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district yesterday, police said.Eight injured passengers were admitted at the Baharampur Medical College and Hospital.The Malda-bound public transport bus fell off the Nalini Buske bridge into the Gobra canal in Balirghat area around 6am.The bus was partially fished out of the canal by deploying cranes. Hundreds of villagers and anxious relatives of the passengers gathered on the canal banks.“Two bodies were found floating in the canal. Later, 34 more people were found dead after the bus was partially lifted from the canal and rescuers managed to enter and extricate the bodies,” said a civic official.The dead included two children. Seven bodies have been identified, the police said.Rescue operations are on.The bodies were being sent to the Baharampur Medical College and Hospital for post mortem.West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee rushed to the spot along with Transport Minister Subhendu Adhikari and announced a compensation of Rs500,000 to each of the bereaved families. Mamata visited the hospital and spoke to the doctors about the condition of the victims.The chief minister also spoke to some of the injured and assured their kin of the best possible treatment.She announced a compensation of Rs50,000 to Rs100,000 for the injured.One of the accident survivors said close to 50 people were in the ill-fated bus that was coming from Shikarpur in Nadia district.Earlier in the day, angry locals pelted police with stones and torched two police vehicles, accusing them of arriving late for the rescue operations. Stones were hurled at a fire tender that was sent there to put out the fire.Police lobbed teargas shells and baton-charged the protesters.Primary investigation suggests the driver lost control of the vehicle, the police said.One of the rescued passengers claimed that the bus driver was speaking on his mobile phone when the accident took place. “The bus driver was talking on mobile phone and was handling the steering wheel using only his left hand, and suddenly it rammed into the railing of the bridge and fell into the canal,” the passengers said.Saumik Hossain, Youth Trinamool Congress leader, Murshidabad, however, said: “The accident occurred due to fog. Initially, some people tried to create a problem but the situation is now under control.” Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has also reached the spot.“The chief minister only does ‘safe drive save life’ campaign but the real picture is completely different. The state government even takes toll tax for the bridge where the accident took place. We want an inquiry and proper investigation on how this accident took place,” Chowdhury said.