Five killed, 43 injured in bus mishap

Shillong, Oct 21 (UNI) Five people, including two women, were killed and 43 injured, some critically, in Meghalaya's Sohryngkham village when a bus fell into a deep gorge early today.

The bus was going from Guwahati to Silchar when its brake failed and it rammed into a parked truck.Later it plunged into a gorge. The accident occurred at around 0230 hrs.

Eyewitnesses said the impact of the accident was so severe that the bus broke into two halves.

''The bus was having problems with the brake system and we asked the driver to stop the bus and repair it. But he went on,'' one of the injured passengers claimed here.

The passengers further claimed that the driver was in an 'inebriated condition' when the accident occurred and was absconding.

Only one body of Kalpana Rajbongshi (30) from Simalbari, Baksa, Assam, had been indentified so far.

Some of the injured had been admitted to city civil hospital.

Police investigation was on.

UNI RRK PL PD SB ND1752