7 hurt as bus carrying migrants from Kerala to Bengal overturns in Odisha

At least seven people were injured when a bus carrying West Bengal-bound migrants, who were stuck in Kerala due to the nationwide lockdown, overturned in Odisha’s Balasore district on Saturday (May 30), police said.

The bus carrying 38 passengers was on its way to Kolkata when it skidded off the National Highway 16 and overturned near Balasore town, causing injuries to seven persons, a police official said.

Police and fire service personnel rushed to the spot and rescued the passengers with the help of locals, while the injured persons were sent to the district headquarters hospital here, he said.

The passengers, who were engaged in various establishments in Kerala were returning homes in different places in West Bengal after remaining stranded in the southern state since March due to the lockdown, the official said. The condition of the injured persons was stated to be stable, he said.

The rest of the passengers were kept in a temporary camp by strictly adhering to social distance guidelines. Arrangements are being made to send the migrant returnees to their destinations in another bus, the police official said.