Nine injured as Hirakud-bound bus veers off road, overturns near Rairakhol

As many as nine passengers were critically injured after a bus named Subham overturned at Nuapada chhak under Charmal police limits on National Highway – 55. The mishap occurred on the wee hours of Monday.

As per reports, the bus was enroute to Hirakud from Bhubaneswar with around 50 passengers on board when it veered off the road and overturned near a turn.

All the nine injured were rushed to the Rairakhol medical for treatment from where they were later referred to Burla medical. It is suspected that the mishap happened due to driver’s negligence. 

“We were sleeping in the bus when it overturned at around 4:30am. We got down from the bus through the emergency door. The bus was full with passengers. It even carried a lot of luggage on its luggage carrier. An ambulance from Rairakhol medical took us to the hospital,” said an injured passenger Manas Kumar Sahu.

Speaking about the accident, the IIC of Charmal Police Station, Chandramohan Singh said, “We received the information about the accident at around 4:30am. We rushed to the spot and admitted nine passengers to Rairakhol hospital. The injured have been referred to Burla Medical from there.”

“That is a service road and there is a turning point at the accident spot. It seems that the driver might have dozed off behind the steering wheel making the bus veering off the road,” he added.  

It is pertinent to mention here that there is a diversion near Nuapada chhak due to road construction and the service road at the spot is relatively narrow.