Bus falls into ditch on Delhi-Lucknow highway in Bareilly, 40 injured

Bareilly (UP), Jul 9 (PTI) At least 40 passengers were injured, four of them seriously, when a private bus coming from Delhi to Pilibhit overturned and fell into a nearly 15-foot-deep roadside ditch on the Delhi-Lucknow highway here early Thursday, police said. The accident occurred around 3 am near Pardholi village under the CB Ganj police station limits when the driver allegedly lost control of the vehicle, they said. Police and locals launched a rescue operation and pulled the injured passengers out. The injured were shifted to the district hospital and private hospitals in Bareilly, where they are undergoing treatment. Bareilly City Superintendent of Police Manush Pareek said 40 passengers sustained injuries in the accident. The seriously injured include Nagma B (35), her husband Mohammad Parvez (38), Parvez's mother Salma and the couple's two-year-old son Mohammad Faiz, who are undergoing treatment at the district hospital, he said. According to family members, Parvez had taken his son to Delhi for medical treatment and the family was returning to their native village in Pilibhit district after the treatment when the accident took place. The police said around 17 of the injured were admitted to private hospitals on Bareilly's Mini Bypass, while the remaining victims are undergoing treatment at the district hospital and other healthcare facilities. Preliminary findings suggest the driver lost control of the bus, though the exact cause of the accident will be known after the investigation, the police said. PTI COR KIS SMV ZMN