Even as over 30 people are feared dead, the police have recovered only four bodies so far in the Sirhind bus mishap.
Divers retrieved two more bodies from the canal on Thursday even as chances of survival of other passengers are "very bleak", said the police. While two bodies were recovered a day earlier, two more were taken out from the canal on Thursday, said Fatehgarh Sahib SSP Gurmeet Singh Chauhan. At least 42 passengers were feared drowned after a Punjab roadways bus fell into a canal near Sirhind in Fatehgarh Sahib district of Punjab in the wee hours of Wednesday.
The ill-fated bus was on way from Delhi to Amritsar when the mishap took place. Meanwhile, seven families have approached the police confirming that their near and dear ones were in the bus, the SSP said. Asserting that the chances of survival of those feared drowned are "very bleak", he said that it is difficult to come to the conclusion on the death toll in the mishap.
He said the current of water was very fast and bodies might have been swept to places in Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana from where the tributaries of the canal pass. The search operations are continuing and Punjab police has alerted its Haryana and Rajasthan counterparts, the SSP said, adding that teams from National Disaster are carrying out search operations at Khanouri in Patiala.
"Water is being screened at Sangrur, Patiala and several areas of Haryana to locate the bodies," he added. Besides, divers from police, administration and Army are searching the bodies at different places.