Three-member team begins probe into Mahanadi bus tragedy

Bhubaneswar: A 3-member team comprising officials of police, transport and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) began probe into the tragic bus mishap on Mahanadi River bridge on November 20 evening.

The team comprising a Motor Vehicle Inspector (MVI) and a police official along with an official of NHAI visited the spot where the accident happened. The team will probe the cause behind the accident and also look at all other angles, informed sources.

According to sources, as many as 38 persons who were injured during the accident are still undergoing treatment at Cuttack SCB Medical College and Hospital out of which six are being treated in the ICU ward while the others are in the disaster ward.

Nearly ten persons, including 3 women, were killed while 50 others were injured after a bus travelling from Talcher to Cuttack fell off a bridge into the Mahanadi River bed in Cuttack.

As a buffalo was found dead on the bridge, it is suspected that the bus could have hit the animal on the road following which it veered off the bridge and fell 30 feet below into the river bed.

Expressing grief over the accident, CM Naveen Patnaik had announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh to the kin of each of the deceased.

Following the accident, Cuttack Jagatpur Police registered a suo motu case against bus driver Khageswar Muduli who is undergoing treatment at SCB medical in Cuttack.