Toll reaches 29 in Anand bus-tanker collision

Ahmedabad, May 15 (UNI) The toll in the collision between a CNG-run state transport bus and a chemical tanker in Anand district rose to 29 today with one more person succumbing to injuries in the SSG Hospital at Vadadora.

The identity of the person is yet to be ascertained.

A total of 29 bodies have been recovered so far and the police have been able to identify six of them. They include four women and the bus and the tanker drivers.

Fourteen people were injured in the accident last evening.

Last night, Chief Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex gratia of Rs 1 lakh to the dead in the accident.

Twentyone passengers in the bus were charred to death. The bus driver and the conductor Ashokbhai Fogat Vasawa (45) and three others were later shifted to SSG Hospital from Anand Nagarpalika hospital with serious injuries.

Vasawa sustained 90 per cent burns, while two others Ajitbhai and Vikramuddin are being treated for 70 per cent burn injuries. All of them are on oxygen.

The tragedy occurred at around 1830 hrs when the GSRTC bus en route to Rameshra in Baroda from Mehsana crashed into a speeding LPG-filled tanker, after it collided with an oncoming large container truck carrying heavy aluminium angles. The collision led to a giant fireball, with all the three vehicles gutted in the process. The LPG tanker and the truck drivers died on the spot.

An ice-cream cart vendor was seriously injured, when the LPG tanker turned turtle. He is one of the injured being treated at the Anand hospital.

Fire brigades from Anand, Vadodara city and IPCL rushed to the spot with special chemicals to douse the fire, which could only be brought under control at around 2200 hrs. State Health Minister Ashok Bhatt also rushed to the spot.

Four women and some unidentified persons working in a nearby field were also burnt to death. Three deceased have been identified, while the identity of two others is yet to be ascertained. The deceased are Manjula, Pushpa and Sunita.

The NH8 which was completely blocked due to the accident was opened for vehicular traffic this afternoon.

UNI