This story is from January 30, 2018

Kolkata: 42 killed as bus plunges into Murshidabad creek

Kolkata: 42 killed as bus plunges into Murshidabad creek
Key Highlights
  • Most of the dead are state government employees, primarily schoolteachers
  • The bus careened off the bridge while trying to avoid a last-minute, head-on collision with a truck
  • Rescue operations continued well after dusk as divers searched for more bodies or survivors from the deep creek
BEHRAMPORE: Fourty-two people died after a bus plunged 25 feet into a creek from a bridge in Daulatabad, 12 kilometres from Murshidabad district headquarters Behrampore, early on Monday.
Six more bodies were found by the rescue team divers from the river on Tuesday.
Most of the dead were state government employees, primarily school teachers.
One was a WBCS probationary officer on his way to join duty at Samshergunj in Murshidabad.

The bus careened off the bridge while trying to avoid a last-minute, head-on collision with a truck. Witnesses said the driver was speaking on his phone while driving and refused to heed repeated pleas by passengers not to do so.

Seven persons, who were near the door, jumped off even as the vehicle broke through the bridge’s concrete barrier; one of them later died at a hospital and the other six were being treated for serious but not life-threatening injuries.

Rescue operations continued well after dusk as divers searched for more bodies or survivors from the deep creek.

Officials said the search would resume on Tuesday morning but admitted that the possibility of finding survivors was extremely slim.
One of those who jumped off the bus and survived was Swapan Haldar. “The driver went on speaking on his phone and ignored our pleas to disconnect,” he said from hospital. “The fog was dense and all of us feared a head-on collision with another vehicle.”
The driver, whose identity was yet to be established by the administration, somehow managed to avoid this collision but, in the process, drove the bus into the Balirghat bridge’s concrete barrier.
The NBSTC bus was scheduled to leave Nadia’s Karimpur at 5.20am for Malda. It left 25 minutes later, at 5.45am. It was on the bridge at 6.55am. Ziarul Haq, who saw the accident happen, said: “It was foggy, so all I saw was the truck, coming from the opposite direction, draw perilously close to the bus. Desperate to avoid the truck, the bus swerved to the right and fell over the bridge. It smashed a 20-foot concrete railing and fell headlong into the creek.” Golam Nabi Sarkar, who was with Ziarul, said: “The bus fell roughly 25 feet into the water and got stuck. Local residents started gathering, and some boatmen also rushed in.”
The locals, who immediately started rescue operations, spotted three bodies and seven survivors. Of these seven, Parbati Haldar, 60, died minutes later.
The first team of cops took 40 minutes to reach the spot, but was visibly unprepared. It was only around 9am — two hours after the accident — that a large police team arrived. Locals, who had been waging an uphill search-and-rescue battle all on their own, let loose their frustration, attacking the cops and setting ablaze two government vehicles.
As the situation threatened to spiral out of control and take the focus off the rescue operations, Nabanna acted with alacrity. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee cancelled all her prior engagements and decided to head to the spot with transport minister Suvendu Adhikari and principal secretary (transport) Alapan Bandyopadhyay. Before leaving, she announced an ex gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh to each dead person’s family, Rs 1 lakh to the seriously injured, and Rs 50,000 for survivors. The Murshidabad administration alerted the state Disaster Management Group and the National Disaster Relief Force and dispatched four cranes to the spot along with four Gemini rescue boats. The cranes were finally able to pull the bus out of the sludge around 5pm, a full 10 hours later.
Even with the cranes, the rescue operation was not smooth. The crane wires snapped thrice. It was sheer luck that there was still enough daylight by the time the cranes managed to haul the bus up. The rescuers broke open the windows and dragged the bodies out. After that, it was a death march: body after body was being pulled as dusk finally settled. Till reports last came in, the count stood at 36.
The CM supervised rescue operations for nearly 15 minutes before heading to Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital, where the bodies were being taken.
Among the anxious survivors who thronged the hospital was Mofizul Islam, a schoolteacher from Jalangi. He had learnt the worst. His wife Sukhia Mumtaz, 26, was on the bus, going to Joykrishnapur ABS High School, where she taught. Sukhia had joined barely a year ago. “She always took this bus from Jalangi to her school,” Mofizul said. “She used to say this bus was perfect for reaching in time. Today was no different, only she will never return.”
Pritikona Chatterjee was yet to find her brother. “My brother Krishna Das Chakraborty, 40, had taken the bus from Jalangi. He was headed to the Madhupur Raja Sasanka High School, where he is a teacher. I still can’t find him. They told me there were none left in the bus to rescue. So I’m here,” she said, maintaining vigil as the body bags were being stretchered into the hospital morgue.
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