Ranapur/Tangi: As many as 30 people were injured, six seriously, when a passenger bus collided head-on with a truck at Bent Square on National Highway-16 under Chandpur police limits in Nayagarh district Friday afternoon.
Sources said that the ill-fated private bus ‘Om Maa’ bearing OD09A9237 registration number with over 40 passengers was heading from Bhubaneswar towards Balugaon. At about 3pm, it was about to pass Bent Square when a truck coming from the opposite direction rammed into the bus, leaving the drivers of both the vehicles and 28 passengers injured.
Fire personnel with the help of local people rescued the injured patients and rushed them to Chandpur and Tangi government hospitals. Later, bus driver Akhila Behera (55), Anita Sahu (14), Rangalata Tada (62), Anita Sahu (35), Bhubaneswar Mahanta (45) and Banamali Pradhan (27) were shifted to Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar as their condition deteriorated. All the injured passengers are said to be residents of Tangi, Chandpur, Nachuni and Balugaon areas.
Immediately after the accident, hundreds of local people staged a road blockade at Bent Square from 4pm, demanding an over-bridge at the square, where accidents are taking place on a regular basis. Hundreds of vehicles were seen stranded on the road. Central range DIG Ashish Singh and sub inspector SS Haro reached the spot and held discussions with the agitating people and the blockade was lifted at 6pm.
PNN