New Delhi: Ten of the 15 people killed in a bus accident in Madhya Pradesh were residents of Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur district, and the bodies of seven of them have been returned, an official said on Sunday, news agency PTI reported. The process of bringing three more is currently underway.
15 people were killed and 40 others were injured when a bus collided with a trailer in Madhya Pradesh's Rewa district on Friday.
Balrampur Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Ram Abhilash said of those killed in the road mishaps 10 were residents of Balrampur district. The remaining bodies are likely to reach the district by late Sunday night, he said, PTI reported.
According to the ADM, the majority of the deceased and injured are labourers who worked in Hyderabad and were returning to their homes during the Diwali season.
He stated that a Prayagraj ADM had been dispatched to Rewa as a nodal officer on behalf of the Uttar Pradesh government to assist with relief and rescue efforts.
Following the road accident, the district administration had established an expert committee to investigate the details surrounding the accident, officials told news agency PTI. The committee would also offer suggestions for preventing similar accidents in the future.
The accident happened on Friday night at approximately 11.30 p.m. near Teonthar town when the bus, which was primarily carrying labourers and was travelling from Hyderabad to Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur, rammed a trailer-truck from behind as it was negotiating the slope of a mountain road at Sohagi Ghati in the Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh.
Earlier, there had been a few accidents on the road, according to an official.
"The district administration has formed a committee to look into the cause of the accident and prevent its recurrence on the mountain road in Sohagi Ghati,” Superintendent of Police, Navneet Bhasin told the news agency.
The group would include subdivisional magistrate, subdivisional officer of police, and regional transport officer, he added.
The panel will evaluate the bus and analyse its condition. According to the official, it will also include suggestions on how to make the improve the road where the bus crashed.
He noted that a formal order setting up the committee will be released soon.
Manoj Pushp, the Rewa Collector, stated that the committee would investigate the bus as well as analyse the road's condition from many perspectives considering that there had been several incidents there in the past. According to the report citing source, the group will include a subject matter specialist from the Government Engineering College in Rewa.
He said, "We want to ensure that such an accident does not occur." Meanwhile, 32 out of 40 that were injured, have already left for their homes in Uttar Pradesh since yesterday. They will now be looked after in their respective homes only.
One more injured person will go on Sunday after his family comes, Bhasin said.
On Saturday, both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Droupadi Murmu expressed their grief over the fatal bus tragedy.
Additionally, PM Modi declared an ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh for the family of deceased and Rs. 50,000 each for injured from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund.
(With inputs from PTI)