Barabanki crash re-run on killer NH-28: Two die

LUCKNOW: In a re-run of the Barabanki tragedy that snuffed out 18 lives less than a fortnight ago, two people died and 11 others critically injured, when a Bihar-bound bus rammed into a stationary truck on the same killer stretch of NH-28 on Sunday.
The accident took place at Nawabganj tehsil of Gonda, barely 65km off the July 28 accident site at Ramsanehi Ghat, where a speeding truck crushed passengers in their sleep.
Senior police officials supervising relief operations admitted to TOI that no lessons were learnt from the Barabanki crash. “Buses plying into Uttar Pradesh from other states are not being checked. Highway patrolling too hasn’t resumed.”
Last week, transport commissioner, Dheeraj Sahu, had issued guidelines to avert Barabankilike accidents and directed installation of interceptors to check speeding and drunk driving. He also sought deployment of patrol vehicles, ambulances and recovery vans in 40km radius of toll plazas by National Highways Authority of India.
Talking to TOI, Tarabganj circle officer Sansar Singh Rathi said, 85 passengers were on board the Bihar-bound private bus, which was coming from Delhi. “Around 8am, when the speeding bus crossed the Saryu bridge and reached Maheshpur village, it collided head-on with a stranded truck near Royal Hotel,” said Rathi. Two passengers perched near the bus door were crushed between the two vehicles and died before they could be extricated from the wreckage. They were identified as Mamam Kumar, 22, of Bihar’s Vaishali district and Shyam Narayan Singh, 40, of Basti district in UP.
After the big bang, villagers rushed to the accident site and sent an SOS to police. Passengers trapped in the wrecked bus were rescued and sent to district hospital in Ayodhya. Superintendent of police, Gonda, Santosh Mishra, said, the bus driver has been booked for causing death by negligence and rash driving. “A preliminary probe revealed the driver was drunk and dozed off on the wheel and this triggered the accident,” said Mishra.
He also said, the bus which had a registration number of Supaul district, Bihar, would be examined by a RTO technical team. Passengers were given medical aid and another bus was arranged to ferry them to their destination in Bihar.