24 polling party members hurt as bus falls off bridge
   Date :04-Feb-2020

24 polling party members
 The ill-fated bus.
 
 
The Hitavada State Bureau :
 
RAIPUR/JANJGIR-CHAMPA,
 
As many as 24 people were injured, five of them critically, when a bus carrying a polling party from village Lehnga Sarwani and which was heading towards Sakti, district headquarter of Janjgir, met with a fatal mishap. The mishap took place, when the rashly driven bus fell-off from Usadlala Bridge, situated on National Highway-49, some 6 km from Saraswat police station in Baradwar town of the district. The errant bus driver, however, fled from the scene immediately after the mishap while leaving behind the injured passengers, all male.
 
“The local police came to know about the mishap from a passing by motorcyclist after which medical help and other rescue personnel from nearby areas and police stations were rushed to the accident spot. Five of the 24 passengers sustained critical and multiple injuries, who were immediately rushed to nearby hospital for prompt medical attention, whereas remaining were being administered first-aid for their superficial injuries,” Padmashree Kanwar, Sub Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP), Champa, told the media persons. According to the SDOP, the mishap took place at around 8 pm, when a bus (CG-11 DB 0144), belonging to Rajdhani Travels, was heading towards Sakti district headquarter.
 
“Though the exact cause of the mishap was yet to be ascertained in the preliminary investigation, it is believed that drunken driving is responsible for it,” he added. Sources, in the meanwhile, also affirmed that several teams of senior police officials were rushed to the accident spot soon after they were intimated about it. SDOP Sakti Shobraj Agrawal, SHO Champa, SHO Sakti and SHO Baradwar were at the scene and assisting in rescuing the passengers from the bus, which had turned turtle after falling from the bridge, the sources added. Sources also informed that the police have registered an offence under Sections 279, 337 and 338 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the errant driver, who was yet to be identified.