20 women, 2 kids among 47 dead as bus falls into canal in MP

At least 47people, including 20 women and two children, were killed whena packed private bus skidded off the road and plunged into awater-filled canal in Madhya Pradesh's Sidhi district onTuesday morning, a senior official said.

The accident took place near Patna village, around 80km from the Sidhi district headquarters, when the ill-fatedbus was on its way to Satna from Sidhi, he said.

With two more bodies recovered in the evening, therescuers have retrieved 47 bodies from the canal so far, Sidhidistrict collector Ravindra Kumar Choudhary told reporters.

''A total of 47 bodies - 25 of men, 20 women and twochildren - have been fished out of the Bansagar canal untilnow,'' Choudhary said.

He said a rescue operation at the accident site,involving State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel andlocal authorities, was stopped in the evening due to darknessand will resume on Wednesday morning.

We have got information that may be four or fivepassengers are still missing. So, we will continue the rescueoperation (on Wednesday) to ensure no missing person remainsuntraced,'' the collector said.

Choudhary said all the deceased have been identified.

He said at the time of the accident, the water levelin the canal was about 25 feet.

Rewa Divisional Commissioner Rajesh Jain, under whosejurisdiction the accident took place, said a magisterial probehas been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident.

''Seven persons managed to swim to safety,'' he said.

The packed bus, coming from Sidhi and going to Satna,veered off the road and rolled down into the canal which ispart of the Bansagar dam project at around 8:30 AM, saidInspector General (Rewa zone) Umesh Joga.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief at the'horrific' bus accident and approved an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakheach for the next of kin of those who lost their lives.

Modi said, ''The bus accident in MP's Sidhi ishorrific. Condolences to the bereaved families. The localadministration is actively involved in rescue and reliefwork.'' Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan expressed griefover the tragedy and announced a separate ex-gratia of Rs 5lakh each to the kin of the deceased.

''I have also sent Water Resources Minister TulsiramSilawat and MOS for Panchyat Ramkhelawan Patel to the spot,'Chouhan said in Bhopal.

The Chief Minister said he ordered to stop the wateroutflow from the Bansagar dam so that water level in the canalcould go down and help in the rescue operation.

Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath alsoexpressed grief over the bus tragedy.

Eyewitnesses said the bus completely immersed in thecanal water and was not visible in the morning hours.

Later, the district administration stopped the releaseof water into the canal from the Bansagar project, whichbrought the water level down, they said.

Meanwhile, in view of the accident, the CM cancelled ahouse-warming ceremony to be attended virtually by Union HomeMinister Amit Shah.

Shah was scheduled to take part in the programme,scheduled to be held at 11 AM in Bhopal, for the beneficiariesof over one lakh houses constructed in Madhya Pradesh underthe Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).