Papadahandi: Two persons died and 25 others were injured after a private bus they were travelling in met with an accident near Mrugvihar area of Papadahandi block in Nabarangpur district Saturday. Ten of the injured are said to be critical.
The identities of the deceased and the injured passengers are yet to be ascertained. The injured ones were initially rushed to Papadahandi government hospital and the critically injured ones among them were shifted to Nabarangpur district headquarters hospital (DHH) as their condition deteriorated.
According to a source, the bus named Jaga Kalia (regd number – OD-10C 1114) was heading towards Papadahandi from Jeypore carrying about 40 passengers. Near Mrugvihar, a cow suddenly came in front of the bus. In a bid to avoid hitting the animal, the driver attempted to steer the vehicle to a side but in the process he lost control over the vehicle leading to the mishap. The bus oversteered and toppled, said the source.
On being informed, fire personnel and local police reached the spot and extricated the two bodies that were trapped under the vehicle. The cops sent the bodies for postmortem. The injured passengers were rescued. Nabarangpur SP Nitin Kushalkar also visited the mishap site to take stock of the situation.
It is feared that the death toll might go up.
