Kolkata: Six dead in Farakka bus-tanker collision

FARAKKA: Six persons, including an assistant sub-inspector of police, were killed when a private bus on the Siliguri-Behrampore route collided head-on with an oil tanker at Gholakandi in Murshidabad’s Farakka on NH-34 on Saturday. ASI Palash Kumar Singha (52) and three more bus passengers, including a woman, and both drivers died in the accident at 5.10am that also left 15 injured.
Palash, an ASI posted in Siliguri, had boarded the bus for Behrampore — his earlier place of posting — where his family lives in a police housing complex. His wife Paramita said: “My husband wanted to visit home primarily to meet our daughter Joli as she was home on vacation from her nursing college near Kolkata. I had asked him to travel by train. But he was released from duty around 9 pm on Friday by when the last available train to Behrampore had left New Jalpaiguri station. So, he boarded the bus from Siliguri at 10 pm. The bus was scheduled to reach Behrampore at 7 am.”
The other victims included bus driver Sukumar Das (45) of Behrampore, oil tanker driver Sonu Kumar (30) of Chhapra in Bihar, Kamala Dewa (45) of Murshidbad’s Raghunathgunj whose grandchild Piu Khatun escaped unhurt, Anisur Rahman (45) of Sagardighi and Arup Ghosh (28) of Kandi, Murshidabad.
Among the injured, Anu Sarkar (45) said: “We were suddenly woken up when the collision happened with a loud bang. I somehow managed to get out of the bus through a window.” Farooq Sheikh, another injured, said: “It was the tanker driver who caused the accident by suddenly moving his vehicle to the wrong side of the highway.”
Murshidabad SP Mukesh Kumar said: “Our men patrol the highway thoroughly and a team from Farakka police station reached the spot within five to seven minutes. They helped carry the injured to hospital immediately. The toll would have been higher had we not acted promptly.”