35 Picnickers, Including Children, Injured As Bus Overturns in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: As many 35 picnickers, some of them being children, suffered critical injuries after the bus they were travelling in overturned at Taptapani ghat road in Odisha’s Ganjam district on Sunday morning.

With the help of local residents, fire personnel and policemen launched a massive rescue operation.  All the rescued persons were rushed to the local Digapahandi hospital.

According to sources, around 60 people including women and children from Jajpur area had gone to Jirang and Khasada tourist spots in Gajapati district.

While returning, the bus met with an accident after the driver lost control of the steering wheel on the ghat road.

On December 27, 25 tourists, most of them West Bengal, had met with a serious accident after a bus ferrying them overturned at a ghat near Mahagudi under Brahmanigaon police limits in Kandhamal district.

All the injured were admitted to Brahmanigaon community health centre. After preliminary treatment, the critically injured were shifted to Berhampur-based MKCG Medical College and Hospital for better treatment.

Among the injured are several school children.

The tourists from West Bengal had come for vacation to Daringbadi by two buses. After touring Daringbadi, they were en route to Gopalpur via Brahmanigaon when the incident occurred. One of the buses overturned after the driver lost balance over the wheels of the vehicle at a turning in a ghat. Locals came to the rescue of the injured people and rushed them to the local hospital.