In a tragic accident, the worst in recent years, at least 45 passengers travelling on a private bus from Uttarkhand died when the bus fell into the Tons river near Chopal in Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday morning. Search and rescue operations are still on.
The deceased include 10 women and 3 young girls. The toll is likely to increase. Only two people have survived the accident: A conductor of the bus and 13-year-old boy Ravindra, who managed to jump off the bus moments before the bus nose-dived into the river.
The driver apparently lost control over the wheel near Gumma and the bus (UK 16 PA 0045 bound for Tyuni in Uttarakhand from Vikasnagar) skidded off from the road and fell into the river around 250 metre down the road.
As the accident took place in Himachal Pradesh territory, the rescue operation was first initiated by teams from Chopal, Nerwa of Shimla and Rohanat of Sirmour district. later, a team of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) with medical assistance from Dehradun was too rushed to the accident site by the Uttarakhand Government.
Rohan Chand Thakur, Deputy Commissioner and DW Negi, Superintendent of Police, Shimla, also visited the spot of the accident.
Himachal Pradesh Transport Minister G S Bali has ordered for constitution of a committee under the Regional Transport Officer, Shimla to ascertain the causes of the accident.
The committee has been asked to submit its report within seven days. Bali has also announced financial assistance of Rs50,000 to the families of the deceased.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister TS Rawat also announced Rs 1 lakh ex-gratia to the families of the victims and Rs 50,000 for the seriously injured.
While there was confusion over the number of bodies recovered till evening, the authorities in the transport department confirmed recovery of 44 bodies by the evening, while in the press note released by the Chief Minister office, 46 bodies were reported to have been recovered by the evening.
While the identification of the victims was on till evening, Deputy Commissioner Rohan Thakur said 17 bodies has been identified and 7 victims belonged to Himachal Pradesh while 10 belonged from Uttarakhand.
Governor Acharya Devvrat and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh mourned the death of passengers.
The CM has expressed deep condolence with the families who lost their near and dear ones. He wished for speedy recovery of the injured. He directed the district administration to provide all possible assistance to the family members of the victims and to those injured in the accident. Speaker HP Vidhan Sabha BBl Butail, Irrigation & Public Health Minister Vidya Stokes and other Ministers of Himachal Cabinet also expressed their grief over the accident.