NEW DELHI (Bernama-Xinhua): At least eight people were killed and over two dozen others injured after a passenger bus skidded off a bridge on Friday amid heavy rains in the northern Indian state of Punjab, officials said, according to Xinhua.
The accident took place near Jiwan Singh Wala village in Bathinda district in Punjab.
Immediately after the accident, locals rushed to the spot to help the injured and alerted the police, who rushed their teams and disaster response force personnel to carry out the rescue efforts.
"Eight people, including a 2-year-old girl, were killed in today's accident," Showkat Ahmad Parray, a senior government official in Bathinda, told the media. "Five of the deaths were confirmed at Talwandi hospital and the three others at the civil hospital in Bathinda."
Parray said that, according to the survivors, the bus was being driven at high speed when a trawler approached from the opposite direction, causing the driver to lose control and plunge into a drain.
A senior police official in Bathinda, Amneet Kondal, said 46 passengers were rescued from the accident site.
Police have registered a case and ordered an investigation into the accident. - Bernama-Xinhua
