Saturday, May 18

13 Killed In Madhya Pradesh Bus Collision, BJP Leader-Owned Bus Had No Documents

Edited by Fazal Rahman Chembulangad

A private bus carrying 30 passengers collided with a truck in Madhya Pradesh’s Guna last night, killing 13 people and injuring 18 others. The shocking accident took place around 8. 30 pm on Wednesday when the bus was travelling from Guna to Aron, according to police. A report by NDTV said the bus was owned by a BJP leader, Dharmendra Sikarwar, and the bus had also expired its documents such as the insurance certificates, fitness and road tax.

NDTV jounalist Anurag Dwary shared the information about the bus in his post on X (formerly Twitter), saying that “13 people burnt alive in Guna bus accident, BJP leader’s bus fitness ended in 2015, insurance 2009, road tax 2021… still the bus was running.”

However, reacting to the heart-wrenching accident, Madya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav asserted that strict action will be taken against the people who are responsible for the incident. Calling the incident “heart-breaking,” the chief minister said: “I am in constant contact with the District Collector and SP (Superintendent of Police). I am visiting Guna right now.”

Chief Minister Yadav also declared a compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to the injured. He further said that he was trying to collect information about the bus and the accident

“We will try to ensure such an incident does not happen again. I have ordered an inquiry. We are trying to find out information about the permit of the bus and how the accident occurred.,” Yadav said.

According to police, after the collision, the bus was overturned and exploded into flames. “It crashed into the dumper truck at top speed. We recovered 12 bodies from the scene (and) 14 injured passengers were rushed to the district hospital,” Guna police official Vijay Kumar Khatri said.