7 die in Hazaribagh after passenger bus on Kolkata-Patna route overturns: Police

RANCHI: Seven people died and many others were injured on Thursday morning when a Patna-bound bus overturned in Jharkhand’s Hazaribag district, police said on Thurrday.

The bus was operating between Kolkata and Patna when the accident took place in Gorhar area under Barkatha police station area of Hazaribagh district, about 50km from the district headquarters.

Police said the accident took place at about 6am.

Hazaribagh superintendent of police (SP) Arvind Kumar Singh said he had received confirmation about seven deaths.

Motichand Prasad, who lost his wife Rajkumari Prasad in the accident, said, “We were asleep when the accident occurred in the morning. We boarded the bus in Kolkata on Wednesday for Bihar,” Prasad, a resident of Bihar’s Gopalganj, said, according to PTI.

Police said the company contracted to widen the highway to a six-lane road had left some gaps that the driver may have only spotted at the last moment but stressed the circumstances in which the accident took place were yet to be determined.

According to PTI, Ganesh Kumar, a passenger, said that the vehicle overturned moments after the driver negotiated a sharp bend.

Local villagers led the effort to rescue the 50-odd passengers on the bus.