At least 16 women were injured, six of them critically, when the bus they were travelling in overturned at a roadside ditch near water works area and caught fire here on Thursday afternoon.
Four of them sustained burn injuries. The locals rescued the trapped passengers and rushed them to the district headquarters hospital. The doctors referred five of them to the SCB Medical College Hospital at Cuttack as their condition grew critical.
Reports said about 500 villagers, including ladies, of Gopalpur village gheraoed the Superintendent of Police office earlier on the day demanding arrest of the accused in a murder case. After participating in the agitation, the villagers were returning in the bus, when the mishap took place. Police registered a case and are investigating into the cause of the accident.