A day after announcing that 27 people were charred to death when their Delhi-bound bus fell into a gorge and caught fire in Bihar's Motihari, minister Dinesh Chandra Yadav today backtracked from his claim and said there were no casualties in the accident.
Yadav, minister of Disaster Management in Nitish Kumar government, had on Thursday announced the death of 27 people in the accident that took place in East Champaran district.
On Friday, Yadav said, "The information was wrong. Yes, I said 27 people had died, it was based on info from local sources, but I also said that only final report would be considered."
The minister further said, "There was booking for 13 people. 8 were taken to hospital by authorities, there was no sign of remaining 5, no remains were found. They might have left the spot on their own."
The Bihar disaster management department also issued a clarification.
"No human remains were found in the bus. Initially, it was believed that 40 passengers were aboard, as only 8-9 were rescued, the casualties were feared. However, a detailed investigation followed and no bodies were found," it said.
The AC bus that had started from Bihar's Muzaffarpur turned turtle on NH-28 around 3.30 pm. The incident took place near Belwa village under Kotwa police station area, about 30 kilometres from Motihari, the district headquarters.
It was believed that the bus was carrying 40 people. While 8 people were saved by the locals, officials believed that rest of them were charred to death beyond recognition.
"Even before the locals could rescue the passengers, the bus caught fire. Around nine could be saved," a police officer had said.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (Sadar) Murli Manohar Manjhi had said that 11 people were undergoing treatment at hospitals for injuries sustained in the incident.
Some of the survivors had managed to come out of the bus by smashing the windows while others were rescued by locals, he had said.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had also announced an ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh each for the kin of the deceased. He had also observed a minute's silence as the news reached him in Patna at a function organised to launch various schemes of the transport department.
However, no final figure on casualties was given by officials since no bodies were recovered.
Passengers’ account
S of the surviving passengers had told regional news channels that "only 13 passengers, besides the driver and a helper", were inside the vehicle when the incident took place.
They said a total of 32 passengers had booked their seats in the private bus online, out of whom only 13 had boarded at Muzaffarpur and the remaining were likely to catch the vehicle at Gopalganj.
More passengers were expected to board at Gopalganj where the bus was heading to, when it overturned after the driver took a sharp turn to avoid colliding with a motorcycle, they said.
(With PTI inputs)
