Sopur mishap: Fil toll 25 dead, 9 injured

Special Correspondent

Silchar, June 16: Despite series of highway accidents involving mostly night super buses of different travel agencies, various anomalies continue to exist in the magement and official supervision not only in Assam but also in Meghalaya through which NH 6 passes. After the gruesome bus mishap on Tuesday night, the district administration of Cachar woke up and issued directives to the travel agencies and all the departments concerned for their strict compliance in order to avert further disasters. The question is how long the directives will be adhered to.

 According to the Ashim Kumar Bhattacharjee, ADC in-charge district disaster magement, and Shamim Ahmed Laskar, project officer, disaster magement, so far 24 dead bodies have been recovered from the site of the accident on the stretch of Sopur-Tongseng NH 6. 9 seriously injured after their rescue have been admitted to different hospitals in Meghalaya. One body is still lying under the wreckage of the bus which is badly mangled. All efforts are being made to bring out the body. It is to be watched how the directives issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Cachar will work on the ground.

 Though the list of passengers shows their number at 28, it is believed there have been more passengers on board. The recovery of the dead and injured besides one still under the wreckage counts up to 34. The list as officially admitted does not have the mes and addresses of all the passengers. Detail about the driver, conductor and handyman is still to be known. The owner has been identified as Altaf Uddin Ahmed, resident of Silchar, who actually lives in gaon. He owns more than 200 vehicles. The district administration could not be in contact with him.

 While Ashim Kumar Bhattacharjee is overseeing the rescue operations assisted by Shamim Ahmed Laskar, Simanta Das, election officer, has reached the spot with other personnel to oversee relief and rescue operations. The list of passengers with The Sentinel shows the mes of four passengers with their full address. They are Hafez Mia of Nogaon, Jwmwi Brahma of Guwahati, Achinta Banerjee of Hoogly and Mahendra Rai of Silchar. The mes of other 24 passengers do not have their addresses except the contact numbers.