Saturday, November 7, 2009 Previous editions
A bus overtaking another vehicle at high speed as they crossed a bridge in eastern India crashed through the railings and fell nearly 30 feet onto a railroad track today, leaving at least six people dead, a news report said.
Another 40 passengers were injured, 12 of them seriously, in the incident in Howrah in Calcutta, the capital of West Bengal state, the Press Trust of India news agency quoted Sanghamitra Ghosh, a district magistrate, as saying.
The bus driver lost control as he tried to manoeuvre the vehicle around another, and the bus smashed through the bridge railings and plummeted to the ground, witness Atanu told the CNN-IBN television channel. Atanu uses one name.
Mr Ghosh said local residents helped police to pull passengers from the mangled vehicle.
Deadly road accidents are common in India, often caused by ageing vehicles, overloading and reckless driving on poorly maintained roads.
© Examiner Publications (Cork) Limited, City Quarter, Lapps Quay, Cork. Registered in Ireland: 73385.
