Bus falls on rail tracks in Kolkata, 8 killed

FALLING DOWN: The scene after a bus fell off a flyover near the Howrah railway station on Saturday.

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Kolkata: At least eight people died when a bus fell off a flyover and fell on rail tracks in Howrah, Kolkata, on Saturday noon.

First reports from the accident site said three of the dead are women. There were around 40 people in the mini bus when it fell off the Bankim Setu bridge at around 1530 hrs IST and landed on tracks 50 feet below.

PTI, while quoting Howrah District Magistrate Sanghamitra Ghosh, said the bus driver was racing against another and lost control.

"Rescue operation is on. We are apprehending that at least six to seven people are dead in the accident and another five or more are injured," a police official told IANS.

Authorities said police and railway medical teams rushed to the spot but TV channels people pulling out trapped passengers from the bus themselves. Injured were carried on makeshift stretchers as no ambulances or rescue workers were seen at the spot.

"The bus fell between the two platforms (11 and 12). We have stalled operations in platforms from Platform No 10 to 23. But local trains are plying normally," Eastern Railway's chief public relations officer Samir Goswami said.

"Operations on those platforms have been stopped because we have cut the electricity supply following the accident," Goswami said. As many as injured people were taken to the Howrah General Hospital where eight of them died.

A number of long distance trains were held up.