The tourist bus that overturned near Dhauli. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 9: A 25-year-old Pune-based engineer, a native of Harihar Nagar in Bengal’s Nadia district, died here this evening when a tourist bus overturned and fell into a ditch while coming down the Dhauli hill, a well known tourist spot, about 10km from the city.

More than 30 persons, including women and the driver of the bus, sustained serious injuries in the mishap that took place around 5.30pm.

The bus was carrying 53 tourists, the members of an extended family residing in four villages including Harihar Nagar in Nadia district.

While the deceased Jagabandhu Haldar and his parents belonged to Harihar Nagar, others came from Nutangram Babuji Nagar and Badkulla villages of the district.

The injured were rushed to the Capital Hospital and later 14 of them were shifted to the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack. Doctors at the Capital Hospital said that condition of two of the victims was critical.

Eyewitnesses said that the bus coming down the hill lost balance and turned turtle before falling into the ditch.

“The bus tumbled twice before plunging into the ditch. We immediately rushed to the spot and started rescuing people,” said Sriram Sahu, an eyewitness.

The occupants of the ill-fated vehicle, who had set out on a five-day trip, were yet to overcome the trauma even as they spoke about the incident.

“I was sitting in the front seat of the bus. Before we could realise what was happening, it started tumbling. We could do nothing except shouting and crying,” said 60-year-old Adhir Kumar Biswas.

Preliminary investigation by the police revealed that the bus had hit a bullock before losing balance.

“The driver might have tried to speed away after hitting the animal. However, he lost control while trying to take a turn and then fell into the roadside ditch,” said inspector in-charge of Dhauli police station, Bimalendu Satapathy. The bus has left Nadia yesterday and the tourists were supposed to leave for Puri after visiting Dhauli.

“We had already booked hotels in Puri and were supposed to leave for Bengal on Sunday,” said Binay Samaddar, who suffered injuries in the mishap. Most of the tourists were from the farming community. The police said that the bus bearing registration number WB-51-2669 was hired from Shri Nrisingha Travels of Bazar Road, Nabadwip, in Nadia.

State tourism and culture minister Ashok Panda, who visited the injured at Capital Hospital, said that an official communication about the accident will be sent to theNadia district administration.

“We have also asked the authorities of SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack to attend to the injured on a priority basis,” said Panda.

In a similar incident in February, 2012, four persons, including two women, were killed and 30 others were injured when a tourist bus skidded off the road and fell into a gorge at Dhauli.

The bus, which had 41 people on board, was coming down the hill when the driver lost control and crashed through the roadside barrier tumbling at least 15ft into a forested gorge. The tourists belonged to various places in Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Bengal.

After today’s incident the state tourism department is planning to restrict the entry of vehicles to the hills.

“We are planning to introduce battery operated vehicles for tourists visiting the hill,” said Panda.