11 bodies recovered as bus falls off bridge

Garhwa, Mar 27: Eleven people were confirmed dead while about 20 others were feared trapped in a bus which lost control and fell into a rivulet near Marwania village in Jharkhand's Garhwa district today.

Eleven bodies have been retrieved from the mangled remains of the bus so far.

The bus was carrying polling personnel to the Palamu parliamentary constituency where elections were scheduled to be held on March 29. It lost control and fell into a rivulet at about 1100 hrs as the bridge it was crossing had no fences, police said.

About 13 were injured in the accident and have been admitted to the Garhwa hospital, police informed.

The victims were mostly teachers and state government employees.

Meanwhile, agitated over the accident and alleging lackadaisical attitude of the authorities in the rescue operation, polling personnel in the district warned that they would boycott their duty if the operation was not expedited.

Several people also blocked the Nagarutari-Garhwa road and were involved in a scuffle with Deputy Commissioner Amitabh Kaushal and Superintendent of Police Md Nehal.

The agitators demanded immediate transfer of the DC.

The DC said every possible measure would be taken to ensure speedy rescue.

UNI