Four days after the ill-fated Punjab roadways bus fell into Bhakra Canal near Sirhind in Fatehgarh Sahib district in the wee hours, two more bodies have been recovered on Sunday, including that of the bus conductor.
With this, the total number of bodies recovered so far has reached to 15. The body of the bus conductor — Batala resident Raman Kumar —was recovered by the police on Sunday. Besides, the body of an unidentified woman was also found. As per reports, nine of these bodies have been identified so far. Besides Raman, the bodies identified are those of bus driver Surinder Singh, Dr Brijesh Kumar, Neeraj Kumar, Ram Narayan, Jatin Bharti, Suresh Singh and Ashok Kumar.
Senior police officials said that the efforts were being made to locate other bodies. Sirhind Station House Officer (SHO) SS Virk confirmed that two bodies had been found on Sunday. At least 27 persons were feared drowned after the 52-seater bus on way from Delhi to Amritsar was swept in the gushing canal water about three kilometers downstream before getting stuck at Saundh headworks from where Bhakra Main line Canal and Narwana Canal get separated. The bus broke the railing along the national highway (NH-I) close to the floating restaurant near Sirhind between Ambala and ludhiana before plunging into the canal at around 2 am on July 31.