Bus plunges into riverbed in Rajasthan, 26 killed

Twenty-six people, most of them students of a teacher’s training college, were killed and 34 injured when their bus hit a stationary vehicle and plunged 60 feet into a riverbed in Rajasthan’s Sawai Madhopur district, 180 km southeast of Jaipur, early on Monday.

Twenty-six people, most of them students of a teacher’s training college, were killed and 34 injured when their bus hit a stationary vehicle and plunged 60 feet into a riverbed in Rajasthan’s Sawai Madhopur district, 180 km southeast of Jaipur, early on Monday.

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The bus driver and conductor, and a teacher were among the dead.

The students, aged between 19 and 22, were from the Mother India Teacher Training College in Khanpur tehsil of Jhalawar district. They were returning from a trip to Haridwar and Vrindavan.

The accident occurred at around 3.30 am when the bus, on its way to Jhalawar, was crossing the bridge over river Morel at the border of Dausa and Sawai Madhopur districts, Superintendent of Police, Sawai Madhopur, Vikas Kumar said.

“The bus collided with a jugaad (a customised vehicle),” he said. “The driver lost control and the bus broke through the railing, and fell into the dry riverbed.”

The injured were admitted to the Maharao Bhim Singh Hospital in Kota and the government hospital in Sawai Madhopur. Doctors said the condition of five was serious.

Kumar said one of the students had managed to come out of the bus and reach a nearby tea-stall. From there, the police control room was informed, and a team reached the spot by 4.30 am, he said.

Cranes, JCBs and gas-cutters were used to recover the bodies trapped in the mangled bus.

Kumar said an FIR had been registered against the owner of the jugaad.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced Rs 50,000 compensation for the families of the dead, Rs 25,000 for those seriously injured and Rs 10,000 for the slightly injured.