Sidhi, Feb 17(UNI) With the recovery of four more bodies on Wednesday morning, the death toll in the bus accident in this Madhya Pradesh district has risen to 51, police sources said.
According to sources, rescue and relief work, which was halted late last night, resumed in the morning. Two more bodies, which were washed away, were found some distance away from the spot. Till Wednesday evening, 47 bodies, including 24 men, 21 women and two children had been recovered.
This morning, four more bodies identified as that of Swati (22), Deepu (20), Khushboo (23) and five-month-old baby Shubhi were found. Two to three people are still believed to be missing.
The accident took place on Wednesday morning when a packed bus from Sidhi, en route to Satna, skidded off the road and plunged into a canal near Sarda village. The canal had up to 20 feet of water. The speeding bus was running parallel to the canal when the driver lost control of the vehicle and it fell into the canal.
After about three hours of struggle, the bus was pulled out of the water with the help of a crane and 47 bodies were fished out during the day-long relief work. The villagers managed to rescue seven people from the canal.
On Wednesday morning, the rescue work was resumed as it is being estimated that four to five more people are still missing. There have been reports that about 60 passengers were travelling in the 32-seater bus.
Majority of the passengers were young men and women, who had left for Satna from Sidhi to take the railway and nursing examinations.
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