Bus plunges into river in Madhya Pradesh, leaving 15 dead, 38 injured

Itarsi: At least 15 people including seven women were on Tuesday killed and 38 seriously injured when the bus in which they were travelling fell into a river from a bridge in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh.

The bus was carrying a wedding party. The mishap took place on Tuesday morning when the bus was on its way to Parasia from Indore, Sohagpur Police Station in-charge Siddharth Singh said.

“Fifteen people were killed in the mishap and 38 seriously injured. They were admitted in a private hospital at Bhopal and Hoshangabad respectively,” Hoshangabad Division Commissioner VK Batham told PTI.

The bus was crossing a river bridge near Longabanjari village about 7 km away from Sohagpur when the incident happened.

The deceased have been identified as Baby Pareta, Manju Varma, Om Prakash, Ashok Kulhara, Hariom Pareta, Radha Garhwal, Mahesh Varma, Jyoti Doliya, Kaushalya Verma, Gullo Dolia, Arun Garhwal, Ratan Garhwal, Vishnu Prasad Garhwal, Anuradha Parwal and Gayatri Verma, the Commissioner said.

Expressing grief over the mishap, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced a relief of Rs 1.5 lakh each to the kin of deceased, Rs 50,000 to those seriously injured and Rs 25,000 to those who suffered minor injuries in the accident.

Congress Chief Whip in the Lok Sabha, Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday expressed grief over the deaths.

“It was more tragic as the victims were returning from a marriage function,” Scindia said in a statement.

He wished a speedy recovery to those injured in the incident, it added.

Hoshangabad Collector Sanket Bhondve and other senior officials reached the spot soon after the mishap to supervise the rescue operation.

Further investigations are on, police said.

PTI