At least 26 people died, including two women and a minor, and 20 others were injured in a head-on collision between a minibus and a container truck near Kaziranga National Park in Assam on Friday. Many of the victims were college students returning from class. The accident occurred at Rangajan near Hathikuli Tea Estate in the Kohora range on National Highway-715, where the passenger vehicle collided with the truck.
“A very tragic accident took place near Kaziranga National Park in the afternoon. According to information received so far, 26 people have lost their lives. College students are among the dead,” said Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Several critically injured people are being treated at Bokakhat Civil Hospital and Jorhat Medical College and Hospital, he added.
“Minister Ranoj Pegu will soon visit Kaziranga, and I will also go tomorrow,” Sarma said.
Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Atul Bora is already at the accident site and overseeing the relief arrangements. Earlier, an Executive Magistrate of Golaghat district told reporters here that the death toll was rising very fast as many of the injured are critical.
“Already nine ambulances have been operating to ferry the injured people. Doctors here have referred 20 people to Jorhat for advanced treatment,” he added.
Of the deceased, eight have been identified as Jyoti Majhi, Darpana Majhi, Anurag Goala (a 12-year-old boy), Abdul Mujid (driver of the minibus), Subhash (handyman of the minibus), Rashid Ali, Hafiza Khatun and Farhana Yasmin, he added. The minibus was going from Golaghat to Nagaon, while the container truck was going towards Upper Assam, police said. Minister Bora, who is also the local MLA, was supervising the relief and rescue operations.
“Deeply saddened by this heartbreaking incident... I am now visiting the hospitals to assess the condition of the injured and review the medical care being provided to them. Necessary instructions have been issued to ensure that all injured persons receive the best possible treatment,” he said.
The injured people were initially taken to the Kohora Model Hospital, and most of the critically injured were referred to civil hospitals in Bokakhat and Golaghat, as well as the Jorhat Medical College and Hospital, officials said. “The bus was running at very high speed, violating restrictions imposed near the park. We think that the accident took place when the driver of the minibus lost control, and the vehicle collided with the container truck,” they said.
The Golaghat district administration official further said that a thorough enquiry will be instituted to find out how the accident took place and whether the two vehicles, or any of the, violated traffic norms, such as ferrying more passengers than the seating capacity or exceeding the speed limit near Kaziranga National Park.
The impact of the accident was so severe that the front of the minibus was reduced to a mangled heap of metal, and the large container truck skidded off the road to the side. An official from the Golaghat District Transport Office said the minibus involved was a habitual offender and had repeatedly attracted traffic fines for overspeeding in the past.