Monday, 03 April 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
A 40-year-old woman and her teenage daughter died while about 36 persons were injured when an Uttarakhand Transport Corporation bus they were travelling from Mussoorie to Dehradun fell into a gorge on Sunday. There were about 40 people in the bus at the time of the mishap. Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also expressed grief at the loss of lives in the accident and directed the officials to make all arrangements to provide the best possible treatment to the injured.
The officials said that the accident occurred around noon on a turning near the ITBP camp when the driver reportedly lost control of the bus due to which it fell into a 70-metre-deep gorge. They said that there were 40 passengers on the bus including 16 women, 19 men and five children at the time of the accident. The police, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and ITBP personnel carried out the rescue operation after getting the information about the accident. According to the officials, all injured were initially taken to the hospital in Mussoorie, many of whom were later brought to Dehradun to the Government Doon Medical College (GDMC) hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya hospital (Coronation) and Max hospital. The officials said that 25 injured were admitted to GDMC and 11 seriously injured passengers were admitted to Max hospital out of which two later died. The deceased have been identified as Mussoorie residents Sudha Lakhera (40) and her 15-year-old daughter Mehek.
The Dehradun district magistrate Sonika also reached Mussoorie to check the rescue operation. She has also appointed sub divisional magistrates in hospitals to ensure the injured get proper treatment. Six injured were already discharged from the hospital after the primary treatment while the remaining were still in the hospital till late on Sunday evening, said the officials. Some passengers have alleged that the driver was drunk and was quite careless while driving the bus. The officials said that the police have registered a case against the driver and conductor who ran away from the scene after the mishap. Action will be taken against them as per the findings of the investigation, officials said.
