A private bus with 42 persons, including 20 school students from Totopara to Madarihat in Alipurduar district, got stuck in Bangri river that suddenly rose due to a flash flood on Wednesday morning.

The swollen waters made the bus drift for some distance, leaving passengers panicky. Eventually, after some time, the water level receded. Passengers somehow scrambled out of the bus and stood on the riverbank.

Later in the afternoon, an excavator was used to pull out the vehicle from the river as the front portion of it was stuck in the sand and silt.

Totopara, a hamlet in the Birpara-Madarihat block of the district, is the place where the Toto community resides. The Toto tribe, found in Totopara, is classified by the government as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG).

The village is around 22km from Madarihat and 59km from Alipurduar, the district headquarters.

To reach Totopara from Madarihat, one has to cross around six to seven rivers and four to five streams, most of which originate from Bhutan. There is no bridge, and all vehicles move through the river beds, which usually remain dry or barely have knee-deep water.

Sources said that every day, the private bus departs from Totopara around 9.30am, carrying school students and others.

Around 80 students commute daily between Totopara and Madarihat.

“Today (Wednesday), there were 42 passengers, including around 20 students, on board. The bus crossed the dry beds of some streams and rivers like Titi and Haori. However, as it reached the riverbed of the Bangri river, which is around 13km from Totopara (9km from Madarihat), there was a flash flood around 10.15am,” said Mohan Saha, the bus owner.

Because of the flash flood, water levels rose in the river. The driver tried to power the vehicle out of water but failed.

“The wheels stopped working as the water suddenly rose. The water currents pushed our bus around 30 metres downstream. We were really scared as our bus had turned into a boat,” said Kirtan Toto, a schoolboy seated in the bus.

The “floating” bus, however, came to a halt when its front wheels got buried under the sand.

“We sat inside the bus as it was no longer floating downstream. After almost an hour, the water level receded, and we jumped off on the bank,” Kirtan added.

Totopara residents said that every monsoon they face this problem. “Often, we had to wait near the riverbank till the water levels receded. The administration and the state government should look into the issue and think of improving the connectivity to Totopara,” said a resident of the village.

The drenched students were dropped home in light vehicles. Though none of the passengers was injured, the students wondered how they would go to school o Thursday as the bus suffered damage.

Madarihat residents said only one bus plies between Madarihat and Totopara twice every day. In January 2025, the North Bengal State Transport Corporation introduced a bus on the route, but the service was discontinued only after two months in March.

As the news spread, a police team led by Ashim Majumder, the officer–in–charge of Madarihat police station, reached the other side of the bank.

The police called for an excavator to take the bus out of the wed riverbed. It was then brought to Madarihat.

“We have passed an alert so that people abstain from taking risks such as crossing the rivers and streams during monsoons. Due to rainfall in the upper catchments, such flash floods occur, and people, ignorant of the rainfall in other areas, try to cross streams and rivers to get caugh in flash floods,” said a police officer.

Residents recalled that on May 29 last year, Asha S. Bomjan, the former sabhapati of Madrihat panchayat samiti, who is from Totopara, was stuck in her SUV at Dayamara, a stream along the route, because of a similar flash flood at night.

Asha, along with her driver, stood on the roof of her SUV as almost half her vehicle went under water. Eventually, they jumped into the river and managed to swim to a tree on the riverbank, which they held on to. Around dawn, when the water ebbed, local residents, cops and foresters rescued them.