DEHRADUN, Nov 5: Overcrowding, speeding and technical faults were among the reasons that might have led to the bus accident in Almora, according to the ill-fated vehicle’s surviving passengers, many of whom are undergoing treatment at different hospitals here.
The packed-beyond-capacity bus carrying passengers returning to work after Diwali fell into a deep gorge in Uttarakhand’s Almora district on Monday, killing at least 36 of the more than 60 people on board.
Twenty-seven people were injured, four of them critically, when the 43-seater bus, operated by the private Garhwal Motor Owners Union, was on its way from Pauri in Garhwal region to Ramnagar in Kumaon about 250 km away.
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Karan, who is among the five being treated at the Ramdutt Joshi Hospital in Ramnagar, said, “There were 60-65 people in the 32-seater bus. We suddenly heard a sound that seemed like a tyre burst and the bus fell into the gorge.”
“It was obviously overloaded. At least 20 passengers were standing in the bus since all the seats were occupied,” he said.
Another passenger too claimed that the vehicle was packed beyond capacity. “Something broke down — an axel or something. We heard a sound like that of a tyre burst and the bus went down,” Ayush, with his head bandaged, told PTI Videos.
“Apart from overcrowding, the poor condition of the roads may also have led to the accident. The driver too seemed to be in a hurry,” said Vinod Pokhriyal, another injured passenger at the hospital.
The injured passenger said he was sitting in the front of the bus, close to the driver who said that he had to drive another bus from Marchula.
“The bus was going at a high speed. There was some technical fault also that the driver could not control and the bus plunged into the gorge, Pokhriyal said.
A doctor at the Ramdutt Joshi Hospital in Ramnagar said five injured passengers were admitted there and their condition has improved. (PTI)
