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Bengal bus accident toll revised to 24

At least 24 passengers, including five members of a family, drowned when a state-owned bus crashed through the guard rails of a bridge and fell 60 feet into the River Bhagirathi near Baharampore town in Murshidabad district early today.

"So far 20 bodies, 16 male and four female, have been recovered. The bus was apparently carrying 24 people and four of them are still missing, but they have no chance of survival," West Bengal Minister of State for Transport Sushanta Ghosh, who returned from the site, told reporters in Calcutta.

Ghosh said 22 persons boarded the Malda-bound bus from Calcutta, besides drivers Asgar ali and Sailendranath biswas and conductor Biswanath Mondal. One of the passengers alighted at Baharampore, a few minutes before the accident.

"But we cannot tell you whether more passengers boarded the bus from Barasat or Krishnanagar, the scheduled stops on the route before Baharampore. We are trying to locate the passenger who got down at Baharampore," Ghosh said.

He said the depth of the river, where the bus fell, was 50 feet. "The roof of the bus was swept away by the current owing to the release of water from the Farakka Barrage. While 19 bodies were recovered from inside the bus, which was retrieved with the help of a crane, the body of a male passenger was recovered from Shaktipur, 25km downstream from Baharampore," he said.

Earlier, 62 persons were feared to have been killed in the accident. "Such buses have a maximum capacity of 62 passengers, but later we found that the bus had not been boarded to full capacity," Inspector-General of Police (law and order) Prasun Mukherjee said.

Ghosh said the accident took place around 0230 IST: "We are yet to ascertain how the driver lost control over the bus, which fell into the river after crashing through the railings. We have ordered an administrative inquiry."

The minister said most of the bodies were deformed by the impact of the accident but were not beyond recognition.

He said 26 divers, including eight of the Calcutta Port Trust, were pressed into service. Besides the police, soldiers of the Border Security Force and personnel of the National Thermal Power Corporation also helped.

The district authorities requested the Farakka Barrage authorities to regulate the release of water to help the rescue operation.

Ghosh said the bus, which was retrieved and placed on three boats, sank again when it was detached from the crane.

The state government has announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs20,000 each to the next of kin of the victims.

UNI

EARLIER REPORT: 62 feared drowned as bus plunges into river

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