Charabari (Assam), May 31: A bus carrying a wedding party fell off a wooden bridge near Guwahati last night, killing the groom and 27 others.

Groom Naba Sarma and 37 others, including the driver and his helper, were on their way to the wedding in Tihu in Nalbari, which neighbours Guwahati, when the accident occurred around 11pm.

Residents of Charabari, the accident spot, blamed two unpainted speedbreakers at the mouth of the bridge. “It is possible the driver did not see the speed breakers and lost control after hitting these,” said Faznur Ali, who lives nearby.

Ali said the pond was not needed and should be filled up, adding that 13 members of a troupe had died in 2004 when their vehicle fell into the water body.

Khargeswar Pujari lost all members of his family — his wife, 19-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter — in the accident that left 10 people injured. “The groom was my nephew,” said Pujari, a peon at a thermal power station.

“I held out a long bamboo pole to them (the passengers) and kept shouting to others to come and help,” said Renu Das, whose house is located close to the bridge.

Residents and personnel of the National Disaster Response Force joined the rescue this morning and fished out the bodies with the help of residents.

Chief minister Tarun Gogoi has ordered a high-level inquiry and announced an ex gratia of Rs 1 lakh to the next of kin of the dead. He also ordered the conversion of all wooden bridges into concrete ones.