The city bus at the mishap site near Balikuda on Monday. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Sept. 17: At least five persons, including two women, sustained minor injuries after a city bus in which they were travelling today met an accident near Balikuda on the city outskirts.

A major tragedy was averted by the presence of mind of the driver, who decided to slow down the bus by taking it off the road after the steering wheel developed some technical snags around 9:30am.

“I was panicked after the driver, Mihir Rout, informed me about the problem in the steering wheel, and because of it, the brakes also failed. However, Rout immediately took the bus off the road,” said conductor Laxmidhar Panda, who was also hurt in the mishap.

Panda said the Bhubaneswar-bound bus had started its journey from Bidanasi with 36 passengers. The bus was travelling at a speed of 40 to 45 km per hour.

All the passengers were terrified after the driver informed them that he was unable to stop the bus because of some technical snags in the steering wheel, Panda said.

“I was standing when I saw the driver taking the bus down the road where construction was going on for expansion of the National Highway 5 between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. Luckily, there was no casualty,” said Prem Mishra, 25, an injured.

Mishra had boarded the bus from Link Road. “I was scared when I came to know about that the brakes were not working. I am grateful to God that all the passengers travelling in the bus are safe while only few have sustained minor injuries,” said Mishra, a native of Bargarh.

All the five injured were rushed to SCB and three passengers were discharged from there after first aid.

Chief operating officer of Dream Team Sahara that operates the city bus service from Cuttack to Bhubaneswar and Puri said adequate precautions were being taken to ensure the passengers’ safety.

“Usually, all the buses are checked and properly maintained. However, today’s incident was just an accident and because of the driver’s presence of mind, a major tragedy was averted,” said Jena.

Jena said the senior manager (maintenance) had inspected the bus and the mishap was mainly because of a technical problem in the steering wheel.