Channel News Asia :
An overcrowded bus drove off a bridge and into a canal in central India on Tuesday (Feb 16), killing at least 40 people, an official said.
Six people were rescued after the accident near Satna village in Madhya Pradesh state, District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Choudhary said.
He said more than 46 people were on board the bus, which was designed for 34.
Rescuers recovered 40 bodies and are searching for other passengers.
It was unclear what caused the bus to swerve, but India’s vast network of roads is poorly maintained and notoriously dangerous.
Local media reported the bus was completely submerged, and images showed officials in orange life jackets using rescue boats to look for survivors.
The state government has ordered an inquiry into the accident.
An initial investigation suggested the driver lost control of the bus, reports said. The bus then hit a bridge before crashing into the water.
Local officials stopped the release of water into the
canal, which sped up the rescue operations and allowed two cranes to pull the bus out, reports said.
The Times of India newspaper quoted sources saying it took three hours to lift the vehicle out.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office tweeted that the families of those killed would receive 200,000 rupees (US$2,750) in compensation. “The entire state is standing with those affected,” Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said in a video message.
