Jajpur: Nearly 40 tourists from neighbouring West Bengal were injured, two of them critically, when the bus in which they were travelling rammed into a stationary truck on National Highway 16 in Odisha’s Jajpur district Friday, police said.
The incident took place near the Badachana overbridge at about 6 am.
Police said the accident occurred when the bus, carrying around 55 passengers from Medinipur in West Bengal to Puri, dashed into the truck parked on the roadside after a tyre puncture.
The bus driver is suspected of having dozed off and lost control of the vehicle, leading to the accident in which the front portion of the vehicle was completely damaged.
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Badachana police, along with local residents, rescued the injured passengers. The injured were taken to Badachana Community Health Centre (CHC) for treatment.
Two critically injured passengers were later shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital at Kataka, while others are undergoing treatment at Badachana, said local police station inspector in charge Jagdish Kar.
He said other passengers were being sent to their respective destinations in another bus.