Modi, Nitish fall for fake Bihar news

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday night expressed his deep sorrow and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar observed a minute of silence over inferno deaths that never took place.

The entire media was also taken for a ride by authorities in reporting several casualties in a bus fire in Motihari in Bihar on Thursday.

The official in Bihar Government on Thursday  said several passengers died in the accident when the air-conditioned bus going to Delhi from Muzaffarpur fell in ditch and caught fire.  By night they brought down the toll from 27 to seven. On Friday, it became clear that no one died in the accident.  

Bihar Disaster Management Minister Dinesh Chandra Yadav, who had said several people had died in the tragedy, said his earlier announcement was based on information from local sources and that it was incorrect.

There was also confusion over the number of passengers on board. The bus was totally charred and when it was extricated from the ditch no human skeleton was found inside.

Motihari Sadar SDO Rajnish Lal said, “All 13 passengers sustained burn injuries and eight of them are being treated while five had sustained minor injuries and they went back to their homes.”

SP of Motihari Upendra Kumar Sharma said, “There is no casualty. We called the teams of NDRF and SDRF for searching the bodies. They found nothing.”

District Magistrate Raman Kumar said, “The bus has been pulled out of the ditch. It is in front of you. You and I can see there is not even a single charred body inside it.”

Asked how the passengers escaped unhurt when the bus fell from a height of 15 feet and it caught fire, Principal Secretary Disaster Management Pratyaya Amrit explained, “After it fell down all the 13 passengers somehow managed to get out. Some sustained burn injuries.”

One of the injured passengers said they somehow broke the window panes and jumped out, but in this process they sustained burn injuries.

About the confusion over the number of passengers on board at the time of accident, officials said the bus was operated by a private agency Sahil Raj Travel from Muzaffarpur.

After the accident all the staff of the agency fled from their booking counter at Bairia bus stand. The exact number of passengers could be ascertained from the statements of the injured passengers.

The report of the accident in the afternoon of Thursday shocked the Government and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who was attending a meeting of the transport department observed one minute silence for the dead passengers. Governor Satyapal Malik expressed deep shock and several Ministers condoled the demise of so many passengers.

The Chief Minister had also announced an ex gratia compensation amount of Rs 4 lakh each for the kin of the deceased. “

Prime Minister Office tweeted, “PM @narendramodi expressed deep sorrow on the painful bus accident in Motihari, Bihar. He expressed deep condolences to the families of the dead in this accident and wished the wounded people to recover quickly.”