3 of Rajasthan family killed, 15 injured as Gaya-bound pilgrim bus hits truck

Three members of a Rajasthan family were killed and 15 others, including eight women, were critically injured after their Gaya-bound pilgrim bus hit behind a parked truck on GT Road (National Highway 19) in Bihar’s Rohtas district on Monday morning.

The pilgrims, 55 in number, were going to Gaya for pind-daan to their ancestors. All were residents of the same village in Jhalawar district of Rajasthan. The incident happened near Sabarabad village under Chenari police station limits in Bihar’s Rohtas district at about 5am.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)’s rescue team reached the place with ambulances and the critically injured were taken to Sadar hospital at Sasaram where district administration officials were looking after their treatment.

The deceased were identified as Bala Singh (61), Govardhan Singh (52) and Narendra Singh (50).

The driver of the bus dozed off and the uncontrolled speeding bus hit behind the truck parked on the side of the NH. The front portion of the bus was badly damaged resulting in death and critical injuries to the pilgrims sitting on t he front seats, Chenari station house officer (SHO) Ranjan Kumar said.

The damaged bus was removed from the NH through a NHAI crane and both the vehicles were seized, he said.

In a similar incident on GT Road on Sunday in adjacent Kaimur district, three pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh died and 11 were injured when the driver dozed and hit the rear of a parked truck. They were returning after performing pind daan of their ancestors at Gaya.