5 killed, 10 injured in Hooghly bus accident

SINGUR: Atleast five persons, including three women, were killed and 20 others injured, eight among them are critical, after a Kolkata-bound bus from Arambagh hit a divider and fell off a bridge on Tuesday morning in Hooghly’s Haripal.

Those who are critical have been shifted to Kolkata, when reports last came in.

According to sources, the bus left Arambagh’s Gorer Ghat for Kolkata on Tuesday morning. The accident took place when the bus was crossing over a small bridge in Haripal’s Jhautala, hit a divider and fell into the adjoining agricultural field. “The bus was speeding. It lost control over the small bridge,” a local said.

Locals and police rescued the passengers and rushed them to the Haripal Rural and Singur Rural Hospital.

Four persons were declared dead by the hospital. Later, another person succumbed to his injuries.

Sources said eight persons are seriously injured and critical. 12 others who have been injured are stated to be stable and out of danger.
Additional police superintendent (Hooghly Rural), Kamanashis Sen, said "Five persons have died. The injured are being treated. A full-fledged probe is being done to identify the cause being the accident. At this point, our primary focus is treatment.”

Police said the incident took place on the Arambagh-Kolkata state highway-2. The bridge on which the incident took place is small to facilitate irrigation channels. The bus registration details have been sent to the state transport department to track its owner.

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