Chamba, August 14
As many as 23 persons were killed on the spot and 13 seriously injured this afternoon when a private bus, (HP-48-3321), rolled down the hills near Salooni township, about 55 km from here.
BR Kaundal, Additional District Magistrate, Chamba, and DK Choudhary, Additional Superintendent of Police, rushed to the accident site along with a team of doctors and other paramedical staff to carry out relief and rescue operations.
The ill-fated bus was coming from Sanghni to the district headquarter town of Chamba when it met with the accident, said Kaundal.
According to unofficial reports, the 42-seater bus was jam-packed with more than 50 passengers travelling in it. Conductor Rinku died on the spot while the driver was seriously injured and undergoing treatment. Bodies of 18 persons had been handed over to their kin after conducting an autopsy while five bodies had been sent to Chamba to their native places, he
added.
The ADM said relief of Rs 10,000 had been disbursed to the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 5,000 had been given to each injured.
The dead, including one woman, nine children and eight men, have been identified as Arun, Sobhia Ram, Aarsi Begum, Shakti Prashad, Tarveez, Taaru, Shivani, Aditya, Ramesh Kumar, Jagdish, Chimnu, Dishu, Khem Raj, Asgar, Shibu, Rekha, Sajia and Raj Kumar while five others, who succumbed to their injuries on way to hospital, were yet to be identified.
The injured were rushed to the nearby civil hospital and Chamba regional hospital, said Choudhary. Police personnel, along with local people, extricated bodies of the deceased from the bus and assisted the injured.
