At least five people were killed and 45 others were injured after a bus skidded off the road and fell into a gorge in Anuraj Ghati under Garhwa police station of the district on Tuesday.
The injured persons are being treated at Garhwa hospital, while seriously injured persons were referred to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi. The deceased have been identified as Pramod Gupta (45), Lovely Gupta (40), Rupesh Jaiswal (10), Sunita Pathak (30) and Laxman Jaiswal (55). Mostof the deceased persons belonged to Chhattisgarh.
The accident took place around 2 AM, the police said. CRPF jawans recovered the bodies of five people and rescued 45 passengers by entering the ill-fated bus through the windows, said Garhwa SDO Pradeep Kumar. The bus was heading to Garhwa, from Raipur in Chhattisgarh, Kumar said. A total of 38 injured persons including bus driver were discharged from the Garhwa hospital after first aid, the SDO added.
Health and family welfare minister Ramchandra Chandravanshi reached Garhwa hospital and met with the injured persons. “As soon as I heard about the incident, I reached Garhwa from Ranchi. I had to inaugurate about 25 schemes in the area, but I postponed all and met the injured people. I have also directed the Civil Surgeon,” said Chandravanshi.
Chief Minister Raghubar Das also expressed condolences on the death of five persons and wished for speedy recovery of the injured.