Tourist bus falls off bridge in Balasore; no casualties

Balasore: A bus carrying around 45 passengers fell off a bridge near Bareni in Balasore district on late Tuesday night leaving 10 injured. All the injured were admitted to district headquarters hospital and those who sustained minor injuries were discharged after first aid, police said.

The State government-run OSRTC bus (OD02 AE 5003) was coming from Puri via Bhubaneswar yesterday with 45 tourists, mostly from West Bengal and veered off the bridge due to rash driving, passengers alleged.

 Police personnel and fire officials rushed to the spot and rescued the injured. “The accident took place at around 1 am. Around 10 tourists were injured while some other sustained minor wounds. They all were shifted to district headquarters hospital,” Sahadevkhunta Police IIC Paresh Rout said.

“We suspect that the mishap occurred due to carelessness of driver. He is absconding from the spot,” Rout added.

The incident happened when all the passengers were asleep. “We don’t know how it happened. The driver fled the spot. I got panicked when I did not trace my husband and my child in the dark who were sitting beside me,” a woman tourist said.