West Bengal: One killed as bus with 70 people onboard falls into roadside ditch

A woman was killed and several others were injured on Wednesday after a bus with at least 70 people onboard fell into a roadside ditch in West Bengals Hooghly district, police said.The accident occurred around 4.30 am in Illahipur area on the state highway -26 when the driver lost control over the bus and the passenger vehicle overturned after falling into the ditch, said a senior officer of the Haripal Police Station.

A woman was killed and several others were injured on Wednesday after a bus with at least 70 people onboard fell into a roadside ditch in West Bengal's Hooghly district, police said.

The accident occurred around 4.30 am in Illahipur area on the state highway -26 when the driver lost control over the bus and the passenger vehicle overturned after falling into the ditch, said a senior officer of the Haripal Police Station. Tapasi Halder, aged 50, died in the accident and almost all the passengers were injured and taken to a nearby rural hospital by locals and policemen from Haripal and Chanditala police stations, state minister Becharam Manna said. "Of the injured people, the condition of 12 was critical and they were referred to hospitals in Kolkata," he said. The passengers had gone for a trip from Raidighi to Ayodhya Hills in Purulia district on Monday and the accident happened while they were returning, the officer said. The driver apparently dozed off at the wheels, leading to the accident, and soon after, he fled the spot, he said.