Balasore: At least eight passengers were critically injured after a bus overturned on National Highway (NH) 5 near Shergarh in Odisha’s Balasore district on Friday afternoon.
According to sources, the bus was travelling from West Bengal to Keralam, carrying around 50 passengers, and toppled on the side of the road on the national highway at around 1.30 pm while en-route to Bhubaneswar.
Locals informed Khantapada police and tried to pull the passengers out of the bus. Soon police arrived with Fire Services personnel, who then rescued those still trapped inside the vehicle. The injured passengers have been admitted to district headquarters hospital here.
Claiming that 35 travellers were injured in the accident, a passenger blamed negligent driving for the crash. “Last night, I saw the helper at the steering wheel instead of the driver and questioned them. The accident occurred when the helper was driving the bus,” a passenger alleged to a local news channel.
Khanatapada police have begun a probe to ascertain the circumstances leading to the accident.
