NEW DELHI, Feb 21 (NNN-PTI) – The death toll from a bus plunge in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh rose to 54, officials said.
A five-day search operation has been called off, with the recovery of the last missing body from the canal the bus plunged into. The accident took place on Tuesday near Patna village in Sidhi district, about 493 km east of Bhopal, the capital city of Madhya Pradesh.
“The body of Arvind Vishwakarma, the last person whose whereabouts were unknown, was recovered from a spot in the canal, that was 30 km from the accident site,” a local media report quoted Sidhi collector, Ravindra Kumar Sharma, as saying.
Seven people survived the accident, as some swam up to the banks on their own, and a few were rescued by locals.
Authorities stopped water to the canal from the nearby Bansagar dam, in order to facilitate the rescue efforts.
Officials said, the 32-seater vehicle carried 61 passengers at the time of the accident.
Deadly road accidents often occurred in India, due to overloading, bad condition of roads and reckless driving.
According to federal Road Transport and Highways Minister, Nitin Gadkari, every day, 415 people die in the country, due to road accidents.– NNN-PTI
