Balasore: Over 20 passengers sustained injuries after a bus carrying them overturned and fell off a bridge into a water body near Nuniajodi in Odisha’s Balasore district on Tuesday.
The incident took place at aroun
d 9.45 am when the bus with over 40 passengers on board collided with a tractor while heading towards Balasore from Bhograi and plunged nearly 20 ft into a canal that serves as a drainage outlet of the Budhabalanga river.
Sources said the bus broke through the railing of the bridge and landed on its side in muddy waters with some passengers jumping onto the road just moments before.
Locals rushed to rescue the passengers trapped inside the partially submerged bus. Subsequently, personnel from the Fire Service and the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) joined the operation. While locals rescued many of the victims, ODRAF teams helped pull out those who remained stuck or were critically injured.
Injured passengers, including five women and two children, were rushed to district headquarters hospital in four to five ambulances. The bus driver also sustained significant injuries, including a fractured leg.
While a search operation was carried out to ensure that no one remained trapped inside the vehicle, a probe is underway to ascertain the cause of the mishap.