Rajesh Roy

Salanpur (Asansol), June 10: One of the survivors of yesterday’s bus accident that killed 20 wedding guests from Asansol said the vehicle was being driven at a very high speed and the driver had ignored repeated pleas from passengers to slow down.

Rajesh Roy, 18, who today recounted how he had jumped out of one of the windows of the bus moments before it crashed into a peepal tree off GT Road near Dhanbad, had boarded the bus at 5.15am yesterday from the bride’s home in Salanpur.

Roy has suffered minor bruises on his waist and chin.

“I was sitting on the rear seat. The bus, which was carrying 65 people, was packed to its capacity. Some even sat on the roof-top,” said Roy, who is a friend of the groom.

“Right from the beginning, the driver ignored our pleas and drove at a very high speed. The bus was travelling so fast that it was vibrating. I felt a sharp jerk as the bus swerved in order to avoid colliding with a vehicle coming from the opposite direction. Then I jumped out of one of the windows, anticipating an accident,” recounted Roy, sitting in the courtyard of his home in Salanpur’s Samdih village.

“After I fell on the road, I saw the bus crash into the peepal tree. I rushed towards the mangled bus and found several passengers bleeding and crying for help. Then I fainted,” Roy said.

“When I regained consciousness, I found myself lying on a bed at Dhanbad Sadar Hospital.”

Roy’s grandfather Kalipada Roy, 70, a retired Eastern Coalfields miner, was killed in the accident.

Roy said he was lucky that there was no other vehicle on the road when he jumped off the bus. “Then I would have been crushed under its wheels,” he said.

Ten of the accident victims were cremated at the ghat in Samdih last night. Today, most of the villagers did not cook food at their homes to mourn the incident.

Triloki Devi, the mother of groom Benoy Roy, has not touched food or water since yesterday. Triloki has lost her husband, elder son and grandson in the crash.

Benoy today went to Hooghly’s Tribeni to perform the last rites of his father.