No casualty in Bihar bus mishap, finds probe; three persons booked

PATNA: With no bodies or remains of skeletons of bus passengers having been found inside the ill-fated bus that had overturned and caught fire in Bihar, the mystery behind the high casualty figures was resolved on Friday as the government clarified that no passenger was killed.

The mishap, which took place on NH-28 under Kotwa police station area of East Champaran district on Thursday, had thrown up casualty figures ranging from seven to 27. Senior administration officials and even state disaster management minister Dinesh Chandra Yadav had quoted such high figures for hours after the luxury air-conditioned bus from Muzaffarpur to New Delhi met with the mishap at about 4:15 PM.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had condoled the deaths and tweeted about them. The state government had announced ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh for the next of kin of each victim. But by late evening, with eight injured passengers found to be receiving treatment and it being confirmed that the ill-fated bus had only 13 passengers at the time, the government began an intensive, multi-pronged probe.

“None of the 13 passengers in the bus died in the mishap. They have all been identified, and they are all receiving treatment for their injuries. Investigations inside the gutted bus and its peripheries by forensic experts and an NDRF team has found no trace of human body,” said East Champaran district magistrate Raman Kumar on Friday.

After the probes were completed, minister Dinesh Chandra Yadav retracted from his statement. “I had said 27 people have died. It was based on information I had received from local sources, but I also said that only the final report would be considered,” he said.

“While 32 people had booked seats on the bus, 13 had boarded it at the source in Muzaffarpur and the rest were scheduled get in at Gopalganj. The driver and cleaner of the bus are missing, but it is highly unlikely that they died in this accident,” said East Champaran SP Upendra Kumar Shrama.

A case of reckless driving and negligence was registered against the driver, cleaner and owner of the bus at Kotwa police station.

Bihar transport department secretary Sanjay Agrawal said the bus, which bore registration number UP 75 AT 2313, had a tourist permit and had been plying illegally between Muzaffarpur and New Delhi, a distance of nearly 1,060 km. “Action will be taken against its owners and managers as per the law,” he said.

“The entire episode exposes how both government officials and ministers of the state government make statements without proper information. It all shows a breakdown of the administrative mechanism,” said Opposition RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari.