15 killed; 38 hurt as bus plunges into river in MP

At least 15 people including seven women were today killed and 38 seriously injured when the bus in which they were travelling fell into a river from a bridge in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh.

The bus was carrying a marriage party. The mishap took place this morning when it was on its way to Parasia from Indore, Sohagpur Police Station in-charge Siddharth Singh said.

"15 people were killed in the mishap and 38 seriously injured. They were admitted in a private hospital at Bhopal and Hoshangabad respectively," Hoshangabad Division Commissioner V K Batham told PTI.

The bus was crossing a river bridge near Longabanjari village about 7 kms away from Sohagpur when the incident happened.

The deceased have been identified as Baby Pareta, Manju Varma, Om Prakash, Ashok Kulhara, Hariom Pareta, Radha Garhwal, Mahesh Varma, Jyoti Doliya, Kaushalya Verma, Gullo Dolia, Arun Garhwal, Ratan Garhwal, Vishnu Prasad Garhwal, Anuradha Parwal and Gayatri Verma, the Commissioner said.

Expressing grief over the mishap, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced a relief of Rs 1.5 lakh each to the kin of deceased, Rs 50,000 to those seriously injured and Rs 25,000 to those who suffered minor injuries in the accident.

Hoshangabad Collector Sanket Bhondve and other senior officials reached the spot soon after the mishap to supervise the rescue operation.
Further investigations are on, police said.