At least 35 dead in Bihar bus mishap

MADHUBANI/ PATNA: At least 35 persons, including 11 children, were reported killed when a mini-bus carrying 65 persons and travelling from Benipatti in Madhubani

MADHUBANI/ PATNA: At least 35 persons, including 11 children, were reported killed when a mini-bus carrying 65 persons and travelling from Benipatti in Madhubani district to Pupri in Sitamarhi tumbled down an embankment and into a lake at around 11.30am on Monday.

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State officials in Patna confirmed 32 deaths while Madhubani DM Giriwar Dayal Singh would confirm just 16 deaths by late evening.

However, disaster management department sources put the toll at 27 even as PM Narendra Modi tweeted his grief over 35 dead in the mishap.

Some 13 passengers travelling on rooftops and the side of the bus were rescued with varying degrees of injury.

The district administration placed the site of the accident at Basaith between Shivnagar and Sanhouli villages under the jurisdiction of Benipatti police station.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar, who was in Gopalganj, expressed sorrow over the incident and instructed revenue minister Madan Mohan Jha and panchayati raj minister Kapildeo Kamat to rush to the accident site, while directing Darbhanga commissioner RK Khandelwal and IG Uma Shankar Susdhanshu to oversee rescue.

He also announced an ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh each to the kin of the deceased while instructing for its early payment.

The incident, however, sparked off intense mob fury with groups going on the rampage for close to two hours targeting the police, their vehicles and the state disaster relief force, whose vehicles were also broken. They were alleging delay in arrival of administration’s rescue teams.