Three drown as hospital bus falls into canal in Lucknow

Three persons including two doctors got drowned while one was reported missing as a hospital bus rolled into a canal in Lucknow on Wednesday.

The bus belonged to a private dental college cum hospital and was stated to be returning after dropping some patients from a neighouring village for a routine health camp at the hospital.

Named after a former UP chief minister Babu Banarsi Das, the college is owned by his son Akhilesh Das, a Rajya Sabha member of the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party.

The institution however does not enjoy any high professional reputation and was known to be often short of patients; therefore its authorities were known to be luring patients from neighbouring villages to facilitate their practicals.

According to Lucknow Deputy Inspector General of Police D K Thakur, "The accident occurred around 1 pm, but it took almost two hours to get the drowned bus out of the fully charged irrigation canal."

He said, "Three persons, identified as Dr Amir Jilani and Dr Anil Kumar (both interns) and their helper Hemendra were found dead inside the drowned vehicle; but driver Jitendra was missing."

Eyewitnesses claimed that they had seen a body being carried away by the strong current.

"Search was being undertaken in the downstream to track the missing driver's body," said a hospital official, who described him as a "very cautious driver."