As many as 16 passengers died in a road accident in Pakur district on Wednesday morning following a head-on collision between a bus and the LPG cylinders laden truck.
The bus JH 04K 1698 owned by Krishna Rajak bus service carrying over 55 passengers was heading to Dumka from Barharwa of Sahebganj district. It met with an accident at Paderkola locality on Littipara-Amrapara road and hit the truck WB 39B 3049 coming from the opposite side.
Pakur SP HP Janardan said that 31 passengers were injured and the deceased are being identified. Injured persons were shifted to different hospitals. The accident was so massive that it took more than three hours for the rescue team to retrieve the dead and the injured from the bus. Gas cutters were used to remove mangled parts of the bus. The accident was apparently due to dense fog causing low visibility. The impact of the accident was such that the front ends of both the vehicles got stuck to each other, police said. Fortunately, none of the gas cylinders on the truck exploded, otherwise the accident could have taken many more lives, they added. On hearing the sound of the collision, people gathered around the accident site. Eight passengers, including the truck and bus driver died on the spot. While 8 others injured passengers died during their treatment, locals said. Villagers said that 24 passengers were badly injured. Six or seven passengers were trapped inside the bus for about two hours after the incident.
After getting information about the incident, DC Varun Ranjan also reached the spot then hospital, where he knew the condition of the injured and directed them to be referred immediately for treatment and ambulances of other hospitals were also sent to Amrapara so that the injured could get better treatment at the earliest. Deceased persons were identified as Namita Jaiswal, Nirmal, Vimla Devi, Sanjay Sah (conductor), Shahabuddin Ansari, Amti Rajwar, Dronath Hemrom (para teacher), Sukam Karekar, Sang Devi, Babloo Tudu (college employee), Binod Raut, Mili Murmu and others.
The district administration formed a four-member team to support the family of the deceased and injured to identify their people and to ensure their other arrangements. Pm Narendra Modi, CM Hemant Soren, Governor Ramesh Bais and several prominent personalities expressed grief over the accident.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh each from PMNRF to be given to the next of kin of those who lost their lives in an accident in Pakur. The injured would be given Rs. 50,000. At the same time the Pakur district administration is providing Rs 1 lakh each to next kin of the deceased on CM Hemant Soren’s instructions.