Horrendous Bus Accident in Puintala, Balangir

(A Report by Himanshu Guru, Sr. Correspondent, ‘The News Insight’ English Weekly)

Five persons were charred to death in a horrendous bus accident in the night of 23^rd May 2013 near Puintala block, about 2 kms from Balangir District Head Quarter in Odisha. The Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC) bus (No. OR 02 BE 6396) was on its way from Bhubaneswar to Sinapali of Nuapada district when it went up in flames soon after colliding with a Neem tree in front of Puintala block.

How it occurred – At around 3 A.M. on that night the bus dashed to a ‘Neem’ tree in front of the Puintala block making loud sound when most of the passengers were sleeping. Following the accident, door of the bus got jammed while the passengers including the injured ones tried to get out desperately. Driver and conductor of the bus reportedly fled away from the scene immediately after the accident.

As per witnesses, as the passengers were trying to come out of the vehicle through the emergency door, they failed to do so and the engine started waving smoke. Panicked by the smoke, they started running here and there inside the bus to find a way to escape. Some of them even jumped out by fidgeting themselves through the narrow windows. In this situation, an old lady and her grandson lost sense. Meanwhile, the engine caught fire. As the fire spread fast inside the bus, the old woman and her grandson, who were on the front seat in a senseless condition, were charred to death. Three other persons desperately trying to break open the jammed side door of the bus were swallowed up by fire. Passengers broke window shields and jumped off the bus but five of them, who got trapped inside, were burnt to death.

Residents of Puintala came to the passengers’ rescue and broke glasses of the rear window to pave way for the entangled passengers to come out. They also called Police, Fire Brigade and PCR van.

Probable Reasons – Lack of maintenance was the basic reason that led to the accident besides the driver’s offense. Motor vehicle inspector S R Roy said, preliminary findings revealed two batteries of 24 volt each in the bus burst, resulting in the fire. The batteries were very old and not maintained properly.

Definitely, the death toll would not have been so high had there been a fire extinguisher and an emergency window, the inspector said.There were cracks in the engine and the diesel filter too, said assistant training officer (motor vehicle) Subash Thakur. "The diesel filter also burst and the diesel came in contact with the silencer, which had heated up to 250 degree Celsius, enough to create big flames," Roy said.

As per the reports, there were two drivers in the bus. Arjun Sahu, who sustained burn injuries as he was sleeping behind the driver's seat, drove the bus from Bhubaneswar to Boudh. Parasuram Das, who was allegedly drunk, took over the steering from Boudh. Das hit the tree, after driving 90 km, and fled the scene.

After the Accident - Fire fighters as well as Police, both from Sadar and Town Police Station, Balangir rushed to the spot. The firefighters extinguished fire jetting water. But as per witnesses, the fire was so roaring that it hardly took some time to engulf.

Even in case of such a big mishap no ambulance from the district Head quarter hospital could reach to the spot and it was police vehicle and PCR van that transported the injured persons to the hospital making several trips. While the injured were admitted in Balangir District Headquarters Hospital, two of the seriously injured were shifted to VSS Medical.

List of deceased - Sachin Kumar Patra (43) of Patnagarh, Sakuntala Devi Agrawal (58) and Sriyanshu Goyal (6) of Rupra Road, Dist. Kalahandi and Sankarshana Mohanty of Sinapali Golmunda and Sarangadhara Patra of Mayurbhanj district.

List of Injured Persons – While Bilash Puri (50) from Daspalla and Subhadra Kanda from Boden were shifted to VSS Medical College, Burla, other victims including Reema Nanda from Boden, Bhaskar Kashyap from Sinapali, Indumati Tandi from Khariar, Prabhas Sahu from Belpada, Gopal Meher from Sinapali, Manoj Ram from Nuapada, Pratima Bag, Subash Mishra and Priyabrata Mishra from Boden, Prahllad Sahu and Ajit Sahu from Daspalla, Narsingha Tripathy and Namitarani Sahu from Balangir, Gokul Chandra, Pabitra Damara and Jagyanseni Damara from Boden, Jyotsna Banchhore from Khariar, Anshu Jain form Rupra Road, Arjun Sahu from Niali, Radio Chocolate FM 104 employee Pragyanshree Panda and others were released from Balangir HQ Hospital after medical treatment.

Officers present - Balangir Sub-Collector Jyotiranjan Pradhan, Town police IIC Srimanta Barik and Sadar IIC Deepak Jena watched over the rescue operation.

"It seems a case of rash driving. The vehicle rammed into a tree. Five were burnt while many others were injured. The driver fled," Balangir SP R Prakash said.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik announced Rs 1 lakh ex-gratia for kin of the deceased.

Social workers, NGO personnel and general public of Balangir offered their best possible service to the victims at the hospital while Municipality vehicles picked up the dead bodies from the spot in presence of the officials. It was due to swift action of the villagers of Puintala that many people were saved, lest the death toll could be higher as per witnesses and reports.

Update - On 22^nd June 2013, the General Administratoin (GA) Department, Govt. of Odisha released Rs 6 lakh meant for the kins of the horrific Puintala Bus accident, to be channelized through respective Collectors of the districts vide Letter.No. 17111/GAD Dt. 22.6.13.