The mangled bus. Picture by Ananda Das

Dankuni, Jan. 13: A dozing driver rammed a bus carrying pilgrims bent on making it to Calcutta by morning into a stationary truck on Durgapur Expressway, killing eight people and injuring 15.

The man at the wheel, who escaped almost unhurt as he swerved at the last second, admitted before police that he had fallen asleep. Hiramat Kambli, 35, has been arrested.

The Ganga Sagar-bound tourists from Maharashtra, who left Gaya at 8am on Tuesday, had refused Kambli a break last night because they had to reach Calcutta early.

“The driver had not had any rest because the passengers were in a hurry. They had stopped for food but that was it. He was at the wheel immediately after dinner at 10pm,” a police officer said.

The bus criss-crossing the country did not have a spare driver.

The crash at Dankuni, 25km from Calcutta, took place around 3.30am. The left flank of the bus was almost sliced off under its impact.

“The driver had tried to turn, but the left corner of the bus hit the truck. Those killed were all sitting on the left,” said Serampore subdivisional police officer K.P. Barui.

Hearing the crash and screams of the injured, guards from a soft drink bottling plant nearby rushed in. They called Dankuni police station, 500 metres away, from the deserted stretch of the highway.

Two groups had set out from Pimpal Gaon in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, on January 1. After Delhi, Mathura, Ayodhya, Varanasi and Gaya, they were heading to Sagar Island.

The bus that met with the accident had 54 passengers. A second bus that had the others from Pimpal Gaon reached the crash site a few minutes later.

Jagannath Bhonsle, 75, said most of them were marginal farmers or farm labourers. “We had paid Rs 13,000 each for the month-long trip. From Ganga Sagar, we were supposed to leave for Kanya Kumari,” he added.

The dead were identified as: Hafeswar, 60, his wife Sarada Bai Hafeswar, 52, Tuka Ram Govind Gonda, 60, his wife Mira Bai Tuka Gonda, 55, Kesar Bai, 60, Mustaq Sheikh, 35, Shakuntala Maruti Jini, 46, and Swapnil Apre, 18.

The injured have been admitted to Medical College and Hospital in Calcutta. “They have mostly suffered cuts and gashes,” said Bhusan Chakraborty, Hooghly district’s chief medical officer.

Lila Bai, 65, who helped the police identify some of the victims, said: “We were all sleeping when there was a loud bang and a jolt. I was thrown off my seat. Everyone was screaming in the darkness. About 15 minutes later, we heard voices and realised that people had come to rescue us.”

A competition between the state government and Mamata Banerjee followed, but to the victims’ benefit.

Higher education minister Sudarshan Ray Chaudhuri, an MLA from the district, was the first to arrive followed by Trinamul minister Mukul Roy.

Roy called up Mamata. Under her instructions, South Eastern Railway added two coaches to the Pune-bound Azad Hind Express tonight to carry the victims home.

Railway sources said 84 pilgrims took the train, which also carried six coffins.

The state government made arrangements to fly the bodies to Pune on Thursday morning. “We were ready to fly all the bodies but some of the families preferred rail travel. Two of the bodies will go by plane,” said district magistrate Aswini Kumar Jadav.

Union petroleum minister Murli Deora, who is from Maharashtra, called the victims and promised them all help.