Two buses carrying college students & teachers skid off road on way to Mirik .... Eight hurt in hill crash

Amitava Banerjee | MP | 4 January 2019 | Darjeeling: Two tourist buses out of three on an excursion trip, carrying college students and teachers from Maharashtra, skidded off the road on Thursday night, enroute to Siliguri from Mirik.

The three buses were carrying students and teachers of Hinduja College, Mumbai. The buses, which were on an excursion trip, had arrived at Darjeeling from Gangtok, Sikkim.

After visiting Darjeeling they had visited Mirik. Enroute to Siliguri from Mirik, the accident occurred.

"The accident occurred at Ghayabari jungle area at around 9:00 pm on Thursday. One of the buses had crossed by and the other two skidded off the road while negotiating a sharp bend," stated an officer of Mirik police station.

One of the buses had fallen around 150 feet below the road, while the other one was stuck in a bamboo grove around 30 feet below the road.

20 persons, including college students and teachers, were injured. Out of the 20, 8 were grievously injured. The condition of the driver of one of the buses is reported to be critical.

"We were returning from Siliguri when we spotted the two buses below the road. As the cell network was bad, we drove down to a favourable location, called the police and ambulances. We then rescued the trapped passengers with the help of the police and local residents took them to the hospitals," stated Mamata Subba, head clerk, Mirik Municipality.

The injured are being treated in government hospitals in Mirik and Sukna.

TT, Darjeeling: Eight students were injured when two buses they were travelling in rolled down a gorge at Ghayabari in Mirik on Thursday.

They were from an educational institution of Maharastra and were on a trip to the hills.

The students were heading towards Siliguri when the accident occurred around 9.30 pm. Locals and policemen rushed to the spot and helped in relief and rescue. They were taken to the block primary health centre in Mirik and later sent to North Bengal Medical College & Hospital.

"At NBMCH, they were treated. None of them had suffered serious injuries and left at night," said a source at the hospital.

According to police sources, there were around 100 members in the group, traveling in three buses. One of the buses lost control and rammed into another from behind. As a result, both the buses went down to the gorge, said a source.