Death comes calling on road

GUWAHATI: At least 28 people, including seven women and three children, were killed while a few others are believed to have drowned when a bus carrying a marriage party slipped from a wooden bridge and fell into a 40 feet-deep waterbody around late on Monday night.
The accident occurred at Chorabori area under Hajo police station in Kamrup district.Six people, including the driver, survived. The driver, however, fled from the spot.
The rescued people were admitted to Nalbari Civil Hospital; 28 bodies were recovered from the waterbody and brought for post-mortem to Gauhati Medical College Hospital.
"Twenty-eight bodies have been recovered so far. An operation is on to fish out as more bodies might be in the water," said C P Saxena, commandant of First National Disaster Response Force. Among the bodies that have been identified are that of the bridegroom, Naba Kumar Sharma, his father, Biren Sharma, sister Jumi Devi, cousin Dhruba Jyoti Sharma, Pompi Devi, Monjit Sharma, Hemanga Sharma, and five-year-old Chayanika Sharma.
Locals from the city's Lokhra area said the marriage party was heading towards the residence of the bride, Gitu Moni Sharma, at Tihu in Nalbari district. "They started their journey around 7.45 pm on Monday from the residence of the bridegroom's elder sister in the PWD colony, Lokhra. Around 11 pm, the accident occurred on the way to the bride's house," said one of them.
Locals of the Chorabori area said they saw the bus completely submerged in the water and tried to save the people trapped inside. "My family and I were sitting at the dinner table around 11pm on Monday when we heard the sound of a big vehicle falling from the wooden bridge into the water. We rushed to the spot and saw a man shouting for the help," said an eyewitness of the accident at Chorabori.
He added the man was the driver of the bus, who was screaming out for help to save the passengers. "We then rushed the survivors to the nearby Nalbari Civil Hospital," added the eyewitness.
Officials at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital said they had completed the autopsies of 28 bodies by Tuesday evening. "We have already done the post-mortem of all the 28 bodies. This is the highest number of autopsies we have had to do since the 2008 October 30 blast," said Sri Chand, head supervisor of the post-mortem cell of Gauhati Medical College Hospital (GMCH). He added seeing so many bodies queued up at the post-mortem cell made him realize the horror of death for the second time in his 30-year-long career since the blast. Some other officials also said the sheer magnitude of death had left them moved during their day's work. "We have seen hundreds of bodies earlier in this post-mortem cell. But today's experience was really tragic," said another official.
After the accident, local organizations, including All Assam Students Union (Aasu) blamed chief minister Tarun Gogoi and PWD minister Ajanta Neog for the accident as the bridge had not been repaired for a long time.
Gogoi has, meanwhile, issued a couple of orders after the tragic accident in Chorabori . "The CM has already issued two orders. He said there must be a proper inquiry into the accident and he gave his word that the bridge where the accident occurred would be made concrete within a short time," said Haren Das, the general secretary of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee.
PWD minister Ajanta Neog confirmed the chief minister was serious about replacing the wooden bridge with a concrete one at the earliest and added he had issued an order to this effect. "It is a really tragic accident. The chief minister has ordered me to get the wooden bridge replaced with a concrete one within a very short time and I am working towards the same," said Ajanta Neog on Thursday. Health and education minister Himanta Biswa Sharma visited the spot and assured that the bridge would be replaced within 15 days by a concrete bridge. He also said the state government would pay Rs 1 lakh to each of the victims' families who lost their lives in the accident and Rs 50,000 each to the injured.