Forty passengers were injured when a night super bus hit a tree and turned turtle on Wednesday morning at Ganesh Mandir on National Highway 52, 2km from North Lakhimpur town.

The bus, bearing registration number AS13C-2111, was travelling from Barpeta Road in Barpeta district to Gogamukh in Dhemaji district, met with the accident around 4.30am because of thick fog.

Sources said dense fog had reduced visibility in the area and the driver could not see the curve of the highway. The upper portion of the chassis of the bus (in picture above) was badly damaged.

All the injured, including the driver and handymen, were rushed to Lakhimpur civil hospital. However, 20 of them with minor injuries were released after first aid.

The superintendent of the hospital, A.K. Buragohain, told The Telegraph over telephone that four of the 20 injured were released in the afternoon. He said the remaining passengers would be released in a day or two. ‘All of them are out of danger,’ Buragohain added.

Two major bends near Ganesh Mandir and Shiva Mandir on National Highway 52 have turned in accident-prone areas because of thick fog.

On December 15, a 62-year-old woman passenger died and 17 others injured when a Guwahati-bound night super from Lakhimpur skidded off National Highway 32 and fell into a 70-foot gorge at Jorabat, 10km from Guwahati.

Sources said thick fog in the area could have led to that accident as well. Jorabat has been identified as highly accident-prone because of the hills and meandering road.

Picture by UB Photos and text by Vinod Singh