Around 10 this morning a bus traveling
with around 40 passengers fell into the Narmada river in Khalghat in the Dhar district
of Madhya Pradesh. As per the officials, 13 dead bodies have been recovered by
far, whereas rescue operations for the rest are still on, As per the information from the
sources on the site, the bus fell into the river while overtaking, the driver
lost control and the bus hit the railings of the pool. The site of the accident
is around 90 KMs away from Indore.
The Home Minister of the state Narottam
Mishra has issued two statements on the accident. Earlier he said that 15 passengers
has been safely rescued. However, this was in total contradiction to the ambulance
driver on the site, he informed the press that no passenger is alive. Two hours
later the Minister said, only 14-15 passengers were on board and we couldn’t save
the lives of any of them. The total number of passengers traveling on the bus
is yet to be confirmed by the local administration.
Local in the rescue:
As soon as the locals got to know about
the accident, soon many among them jumped into action for the rescue. The photos
and videos surfaced locals can be seen involved in the rescue on their boats. The
NDRF team soon reached the spot from Indore and swung into action.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the
state’s Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan later in the day mourned over the
loss of innocent lives and announced their share of compensation separately.
The PM announced to give Rs 2 Lakh each to the family members of those who died
and 50,000 to those injured. CM of Madhya Pradesh also announced Rs 4 Lakh each
to the family of the dead.
The bus belonged to Maharashtra Roadways, CM of
Maharashtra was informed about the incident by his fellow counterpart of MP. A total of 11 bodies have been identified
by the time this is written. Three are from Rajasthan, one from Indore (MP), and
the rest from Maharashtra. The dead bodies have been kept in the Dhamnod
Government Hospital in Dhar, MP.
The accident took place on the
Agra-Mumbai Highway. This road connects Indore with Maharashtra. The ‘Sanjay
Setu’ pool from where the bus fell into the river is made on the border of two
districts of MP, Dhar, and Khargone. The Collector and SP from Khargone were
also on the spot. While the rescue is still on, the
ambulance driver Srikrishna Verma informed that as soon as he got the
information from the control room in under three minutes he reached the spot
who was on the duty then. The rescue operation started without any delay one has
been rescued alive until now. The bus has been taken out from the river.
CM of Madhya Pradesh issued a statement about
the case:
CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan issued the
statement in the case and said it is unfortunate that we couldn’t save any lives.
He informed that all the concerned authorities are in action to rescue as many
lives as possible, Collector, SP, teams from the SDRF, and NDRF are on the
ground and putting all possible efforts. Every single detail will be updated in
the given time.
“It is very saddening to inform you that we couldn’t save any
life”, CM further added. The Naib-Tehsildar of Amalner Pankaj
Kumar Jat has informed the media that, “no one as of now has come forward to
claim the bodies. We are continuously in touch with the officials from Dhar and
Khargone whilst the identification of the remaining bodies is still on.”