At least three teachers, including a retired one, were killed on spot and 20 others, with 15 students, suffered grave injuries after a mini-bus in which they were travelling fell 30 feet into a gorge in Na-barangpur district on Sunday.
The retired teacher has been identified as Lalit Mohan Patnaik, while the other two teachers are Niranjan Nayak and Rina Nayak — both of Sri Aurobindo Integral Education Centre of Umerkote.
The injured students were rushed to Jharigaon Hospital for preliminary treatment. From there, they were shifted to the district headquarters hospital at Nabarangpur. Till the last reports came in, their condition was stable.
The incident occurred between 11am to 11.30am when the mini-bus, carrying at least 31 persons, was on its way to Chandahandi to attend an academic seminar.
“Some disciples of Sri Aurobindo, teachers and students were on their way to attend the seminar and the accident took place after the bus driver lost control over the vehicle while crossing the Chandahandi Ghat Road,” said Umerkote sub-divisional police officer Hemant Kumar Padhi. “The driver also received grave injuries and he is undergoing treatment. A case has been registered and investigation is on,” Padhi said.
School superintendent Subhakanta Mishra, who is also injured, said: “While negotiating a motorcycle coming from the opposite direction, the driver lost control over the bus.”
Local villagers and police rescued the injured persons and recovered the bodies.
Road accident
At least 12 persons were injured after a van they were travelling in hit a tree near Dhobagudi, 10 kilometres away from Muniguda in Rayagada district late on Saturday night. All the injured were admitted to hospital. Around 15 persons from Daringibadi were travelling to Muniguda in the van. However, the driver lost control over the vehicle, following which it rammed a tree and fell into a nullah around 1.20AM. On receiving information, fire brigade officials rushed to the spot around 2AM and rescued the passengers and admitted the 12 injured to Muniguda Community Health Centre. Four critically-injured persons were shifted to Rayagada District Headquarters Hospital
