Two migrant workers were killed and eight others injured after an overcrowded bus overturned on a highway near Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior district on Tuesday, a police official said.
The bus was on its way to Tikamgarh in Madhya Pradesh from Delhi, Gwalior district Superintendent of Police Amit Sanghi told reporters.
“While the driver was negotiating a turn, the bus overturned at the Jourasi Ghat on Gwalior-Jhansi highway around 9 a.m. Two labourers were killed and eight others injured in the accident,” he said.
A large number of passengers were travelling in the bus, which was more than its capacity, the police official said.
The injured persons had been admitted to a government hospital in Gwalior, while other passengers were being sent to their destinations by other buses, he said.
Ganpatlal, a passenger of the ill-fated bus, claimed that nearly 100 people were travelling in the vehicle and a number of them were sitting on its roof.
He said the bus conductor had charged ₹700 per passenger for ferrying them from Delhi to Tikamgarh.
He also claimed that the bus staff, including the driver, had consumed liquor after having dinner at Dholpur in Rajasthan on Monday night.
“The bus hit a truck in Dholpur. Later, after it reached near Gwalior, the driver lost control over the wheels and the vehicle overturned,” he said.
State Additional Commissioner, Transport, Arvind Saxena and other senior officials rushed to the spot after receiving information about the accident.
“We have contacted officials in Delhi and other States and asked them to inform in advance about migrant labourers going back to their States so that they can be sent to their respective places safely,” Mr. Saxena said.
Asked if the bus was overloaded, the official said they were conducting a probe by taking statements from passengers.
To a query on overloaded buses plying unchecked in the state, Mr. Saxena said that since February this year, nearly 24,000 buses had been checked and action was taken against 3,000 of them. The permits of 2,500 buses had been cancelled, he added.