Thirty-six Indian pilgrims were killed when their bus plunged into the swollen Gandak canal near the Nepal-India border on Sunday. The bus was carrying an unspecified number of passengers when the accident occurred. While 39 bodies were recovered till the evening, 27 passengers, including 10 Indians, were rescued alive. The death toll is expected to rise. The injured are being treated in nearby hospitals in Nepal. Rescue operations are under way.
The bus was carrying pilgrims from Maharajgung district of Uttar Pradesh on their way to attend the Bolbam festival at Triveni, about 200 km south-west of Kathmandu. A private television channel quoted a local police official as saying the accident occurred due to drunken driving. The driver is under police detention. Other reports, however, indicated that overcrowding led to the bus swerving off the highway into the Gandak.
In a statement, the Indian Embassy in Nepal said it had sent special teams, including a doctor, to assist the Nepali authorities in relief and rescue operations. An information centre has been set up at the embassy, and officials can be contacted at 00-977-1-4412125 and 4411699 (extension 4109).
The statement added that the Gandak barrage flow had been restricted to facilitate operations, authorities of Indian districts adjoining the border had reached the spot, and the Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB) contingent deployed at the border had been mobilised to provide assistance.
Road accidents are common across Nepal, with public transport experts attributing it to several factors. Key reasons include badly-trained and careless drivers, rough terrain, poor infrastructure, roads which give way during heavy rains, overcrowding with passengers piling on the bus roof, and the absence of strong regulations to monitor transport cartels.
Keywords: Nepal bus accident, pilgrims' death
Bus accidents and concomittant deaths are not uncommon in India.No doubt rehabilitation and salvaging life of accident victims are undertaken by Government and within few days the seriousness is forgotten.It is human nature and no one can be blammed for it. however the elected Government in the concerned states should give top priority to take preventive measures with all seriousness. Some of the steps like avoiding over crowding and drunken driving etc are avoidable with possible vigilant checks before commencement of the journey etc can be enforced. Laxity in enforcing a rule in vogue can be avoided.As in nepal, so in India such things do happen which come under human error. But for this ,other cases are avoided.While the Government is doing its mite, much more is expected as people are frustrated due to frequent mishaps and consequent sufferings. This is a priority area which should be tackled in all seriousness.
Bus accidents and death of innocent victims are not an uncommon
occurrance in our country.Although steps are taken by the authorities
to safeguard and inmprove the the roads and infrastructure facilities,
from the results we have to conclude that much more is to be done to
bring down the accident rates.From the repeated incidents we feel the
need to strenghten the transport system providing highly trained
drivers and permission to travel based on weather conditions as in the
case of airlines, are some of the steps needed immediately.This will
reduce the accidents to the minimum.There should be strict rules to
treat the victims and compensation for the diseased.The law enforcing
authorities should be strict in implementing the law IF still the
efforts are not bearing fruit , we should get foreign know-how and
implement it. since the situation is becoming more gruesome day by
day ,there should be no laxity in taking action
If drunken driving is the reason for 39 dead, execute the driver in front of the public. It should be a lesson for all drunken drivers
How come a pigrimage bus have a drunken bus driver.was he not checked. pilgrims in future please do this test.
In the last paragraph the article stated "Road accidents are common across Nepal, with public transport experts attributing it to several factors. Key reasons include badly-trained and careless drivers, rough terrain, poor infrastructure, roads which give way during heavy rains, overcrowding with passengers piling on the bus roof,..."
Just replace the word "Nepal" with "India", and the paragraph will then also be correct.
Many and Many road accidents are taking place in India and the common
causes of these road accidents are known to the public as well as the
officials but no sufficient preventive actions are taken place. Only
after happening some serious accidents like this, every one is
pointing and fingering no use of it. Two serious road accidents took
place today in similar way (Pilgrim yatras).
All safety steps to taken and to be checked the vehicle and driver
before starting a travel.
Now we are in first place in Road accidents among all other countries.
Thanks for understanding the need of the hour.
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