Shimla: There were no one left alive in the early morning bus accident, today in the interiors of Sirmaur district as the two accident survivors, later in the day, succumbed to injuries in hospital, leaving all of the 21 people who had boarded the vehicle dead..
From the accident site, talking to Hill Post, district magistrate Vikas Labroo said, “those who have died include 18 males and 3 females. The three females are said to be real sisters.”
Cause of the accident could not be immediately ascertained. The mini-bus was operated by a private party.
The bus was on its way from Ucha Tikkar to the temple township of Renukaji when it lost control near Jabrog village (about 80 Kms for district headquarter Nahan) and rolled about 200 meters down the hill side, killing 19 passengers on the spot.
Labroo said that accident occurred at about 7.30 and on receiving information; local rescue teams had reached the spot at about 8 a.m.
“Of the two survivors, one was rushed to Sangrah civil hospital but he died there. The other survivor a 14 year old boy was taken to district hospital Nahan but he too succumbed to his injuries later in the day,” said the official.
A magisterial enquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident. Relief of Rs 20,000 to the next of kin has been announced, he added.
Governor Urmila Singh and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh have expressed grief over the accident.
In less than a week, this is another major accident with high number of casualties. A private vehicle with 10 people out on a pilgrimage from Kishtwar area of Jammu and Kashmir died, when the driver lost control and vehicle fell into a gorge in the high altitude zone of Lahaul – Spiti.
Bad road conditions and driving errors are considered to be responsible for the high number of causalities in road accidents in Himachal Pradesh. In fact the authorities have identified about 550 black spots, on the roads and highways where many accidents have occurred repeatedly.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
Poor roads and poor implementation of traffic rules in hp.daily most f th buses move from chail chowk with overloading up to roof,drivers talkin on phon whil driving,bt no one 2 stop thm.
Governor Urmila Singh and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh can do nothing but “expressed grief over the accident.” Will someone shed a tear for their helplessness? Poor souls, how it must have hurt them!