Driver 'on mobile', bus falls into lake

Daulatabad: At least 42 people drowned when a bus crashed through a bridge's concrete railings and plunged into a lake in Murshidabad on Monday morning, a survivor alleging the driver was speaking on his cellphone when the accident happened. The Bhandardaha lake is 15-20km long and about 100 metres wide at the spot in Balirghat village, 12km from Behrampore town, where the North Bengal State Transport Corporation bus fell into it around 7am, eyewitnesses said. "About 10 passengers were able to scramble out of the door and start swimming towards the banks. They were rescued by local fishermen and admitted to the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital," a district official said. Villagers fished out four bodies initially and when the bus was pulled out in the evening, 32 bodies were found trapped inside. The survivors estimated that the bus, travelling from Karimpur in Nadia to Malda town, had 55 to 60 occupants, which means 10 to 15 are missing. Survivor Sadhan Mondal, resident of Hogolberia in Nadia, said he was seated behind the driver and saw him speaking on his mobile at the time of the accident. "The driver was continuously speaking over the mobile phone. He was holding the mobile phone in his right hand and the steering with his left," Mondal said, adding that the driver tried to overtake a mini truck, lost control and crashed into the railing of the bridge. The dead include 10 women and two children, as well as the driver. When the police arrived at 9am - a two-hour delay - a mob of at least 1,000 villagers stoned them, torched a police vehicle and ransacked four others. When a fire engine arrived, it was stoned too. Ten policemen, including additional superintendent Anish Sarkar, were injured. Superintendent of police Mukesh, called in reinforcements, who arrived around 10am and quelled the mob with tear gas and batons. Officers denied the villagers' charge of firing in the air. Four cranes were brought in from the national highway authorities around noon. Sources said the Behrampore municipality was operating the bus. Nilratan Adhya, the civic chairman, said: "The operation of the bus was outsourced to a travel company. The contract was valid till March 31." Chief minister Mamata Banerjee later visited the site and the hospital with transport minister Subhendu Adhikari and transport secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay. Mamata announced Rs 5 lakh for each bereaved family, Rs 1 lakh for serious injuries and Rs 50,000 for minor injuries. Late in the evening, the search for bodies was on under searchlights. Officials said 31 bodies had been identified and would be handed over to their families after the post-mortem. District officials said this was the third bus tragedy in the district in two decades. "Some 68 people died in 1997 when a bus fell into the Padma in Jalangi. Another 35 died in 1998 when their bus plunged into the Bhagirathi from the Behrampore bridge," an official said. -The Telegraph Calcutta