Eight persons, including the bus driver, died on the spot, while a woman succumbed to her wounds in hospital, he said.
The injured passengers were admitted to hospital. Five critically injured persons were referred to the GauhatiMedicalCollegeHospital, Kalita said.
The surviving passengers said the chartered bus was carrying 35 people from Lakhimpur district to Guwahati so that they could board a train on Sunday morning for their onward journey to Delhi
The passengers alleged that some of them were stranded on the road midway between Jakhalabandha and Nagaon towns as the state government emergency service ambulances did not have diesel to travel further.
They could reach Nagaon for treatment only after about four hours when fuel was brought and filled in, they claimed.
Image: Authorities rush the injured to the hospital after the bus fell into a roadside ditch at Uluani in Nagaon district, Assam. Photograph: ANI/Twitter
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