Bus overturns after crashing into divider near Cuttack, 21 injured

At least 21 passengers were injured after the bus they were travelling in overturned at Nuapatna near Choudwar in Cuttack in the wee hours of Thursday.

The bus named Shree Laxmi was enroute to Choudwar from Deogarh when the driver lost control of the steering wheel and climbed over the divider near Nuapatna.

The speeding bus turned turtle and came to a grinding halt after hitting the divider injuring the passengers on board. The front suspension of the bus got completely damaged and it broke off the chassis. It is suspected that the driver lost sight of the divider due to dense fog in the area.

“We were coming from Deogarh. I boarded the bus at 10pm last night. I was sleeping in the bus when the accident occurred at 3am this morning. I fell from my seat and others fell on me,” said a woman passenger of the ill-fated bus.

Following the mishap, Choudwar police reached the spot and sent the injured to SCB Hospital in Cuttack for treatment.

While some of the women passengers have suffered head injuries in the mishap, the condition of all the injured passengers is said to be stable.

In another accident, 10 passengers of a bus were injured after it hit a tree on Raisingh Ghat road near Mohana in Gajapati.

The bus was enroute to Berhampur from Brahmanigaon when the mishap happened. All the injured were admitted to hospital following the mishap.

It is pertinent to mention here that dense fog and reckless driving have turned out to be the major reasons behind some of the accidents in the winter months.

Recently, a collision between two passenger buses near Dhaugaon area in Ganjam district on January 6 left one person dead and 10 critically injured.

Similarly, another bus mishap at Nischintakoili in Cuttack witnessed two deaths and more than 40 injuries on January 2.

As per reports, the bus was en route to Cuttack from Kendrapara when it hit the truck from the front. The front parts of both vehicles were completely damaged pinning the drivers inside them.