Rescue workers look for bodies in the bus that plunged into a pond near Sarupeta on Wednesday night. (PTI)

Raha (Barpeta), April 21: Oscillating between deathly silence and hysteria, this sleepy village of around 1,200-odd under Sorbhog revenue circle has been in a state of debilitating shock over the bus mishap that claimed 34 of their loved ones on Wednesday night.

The overall toll involving the marriage party at Sarupeta on Wednesday night mounted to 64 at the time of filing this report, with 13 more bodies being recovered since last night.

The bus was carrying the groom and his entourage to Gomura village in Barpeta district from Raha. The incident took place near Sarupeta.

Unable to come to terms with the magnitude of their losses, shocked members of the bereaved families were trying hard to make sense of a wedding gone horribly wrong and leaving in its wake haunting images and memories.

Besides Raha, the village to have the most casualty was Baregaon where survivor Kumud Chandra Kalita lost 12 of his family members. Some in the groom?s party were also from Guwahati and Palashbari.

The groom, Khitish Kalita, is recuperating at Gauhati Medical College Hospital.

With most of them traumatised, a thoughtful Barpeta district administration today not only deputed a additional deputy commissioner ? Nazrul Islam ? to monitor the situation in the village but also despatched a five-member doctors? team to deal with health-related problems of the affected and survivors.

?We decided to involve a team of doctors and paramedics after getting reports of the hysteria, acute depression and high blood pressure from the affected families. We have had to use tranquillisers on some. I have never witnessed anything like this,? Islam said from the cremation ground along the Kokalagi river.

A mass funeral was held in the village late last night.

President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, PCC president Bhubaneswar Kalita, who despatched a PCC team to the affected villages, were among those who extended their condolences.

In his message, Kalam said: ?I pray to the almighty to give the families who have lost their dear ones the strength to bear the irreparable loss and for the early recovery of the injured.?

As a mark of respect to the dead, shops and business establishments in Raha and Sorbhog town remained closed. Diyas were lit in front of homes in response to a call given by the Barnagar AASU unit.

Barpeta SP Debraj Upadhyay said salvage operations were still on and local divers were used today to fish out bodies. He said the driver of the bus has been identified as Amal Patawary. ?He is absconding. At the moment we all are trying to help restore normality in the affected areas.?