A very painful road accident occurred on Friday afternoon in Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh, which shocked the entire area. A private bus going from Kupvi to Shimla lost control and fell into a deep ditch in Haripurdhar area. 14 people have lost their lives in this horrific accident, while more than 35 passengers are said to be injured. The condition of many of the injured remains critical, due to which the death toll is expected to increase. The accident was so horrific that the bus was blown to pieces and was found lying upside down in a ditch.
The bus going to Shimla fell into a 400 meter deep ditch, the impact of the accident increased due to excess passengers and overloading.
The accident occurred at around 2 pm near Haripurdhar village, which is about 95 kilometers from Nahan. This bus of ‘Jeet Coach’ was going towards Shimla with passengers. According to eyewitnesses and local people, the bus slipped from the road and rolled into a deep gorge about 100 to 400 meters below. It is being told that there were more passengers in this 39 seater bus than its capacity, whose number could be up to 60. Due to overloading, the bus lost its balance and fell straight into the ditch. In this accident the bus driver also died on the spot.
Horrible scene in the words of an innocent child: Due to fog, nothing could be seen and the bus overturned in the blink of an eye.
Divyanshi, a 9-year-old girl who was injured in the accident, narrated her hair-raising account of the accident. The girl told that there was fog on the hill, due to which visibility was very low. The bus stopped suddenly and before the passengers could understand anything, it overturned. The passengers had no chance to recover. Amidst the screams the bus kept falling into the ditch. After the accident, there is mourning in the entire area and women and children are also among the dead.
Bus slipped due to mud, potholes and lack of parfait, bad roads took lives of passengers
Preliminary investigation has revealed the bad condition of roads and lack of security arrangements as the main reasons behind the accident. At the place where the accident occurred, there was water accumulation on the road and a lot of mud and potholes. Despite the road being hilly and narrow, parapets (railings) were not installed on the roadside for safety. Due to slippery road and no safety wall, the bus fell straight into the ditch. This accident once again points towards the pathetic condition of the roads of Sirmaur and the negligence of the administration.
Rescue operation amid chaos on the spot, PM Modi expressed deep grief and announced compensation.
As soon as the news of the accident was received, the local people immediately started relief and rescue operations. After this, teams of SDM, SP and police reached the spot. The injured have been referred to IGMC hospitals in Dadahu, Rajgarh, Nahan, Solan and Shimla. Industry Minister Harshvardhan Chauhan himself was present in the hospital. Expressing deep grief over this incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced an assistance amount of Rs 2-2 lakh to the families of the deceased and Rs 50-50 thousand to the injured from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. President Draupadi Murmu and Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu have also expressed condolences to the bereaved families and have instructed the administration for better treatment of the injured.