A minibus carrying 40 passengers collided head-on with a container truck on National Highway 715 near Kaziranga National Park in Assam’s Golaghat district on Friday, killing 26 people, most of them students, and injuring several others.
The crash occurred at Rangajan, near Hathikuli Tea Estate in the Kohora range, while the minibus was travelling from Bokakhat towards Nagaon. The vehicle was severely crushed in the impact, leaving several passengers trapped inside the wreckage, according to the report citing a senior police officer.
Officials initially reported 23 deaths, but the toll rose to 26 later in the evening, news agency PTI reported. Two women were among those killed. Several injured passengers were taken to Kohora Model Hospital, while those requiring advanced treatment were subsequently referred to Jorhat Medical College and Hospital. Some of the injured were reported to be in critical condition.
Preliminary information indicated that the minibus was travelling at high speed and had allegedly violated traffic restrictions imposed on the highway stretch near the national park. Assam minister Atul Bora, who is also the local MLA, said the driver appeared to have lost control before the minibus struck the container truck.
“The bus was running at very high speed, violating restrictions imposed near the park,” Bora said, according to the report. The account places the crash within a highway section where traffic restrictions are imposed near Kaziranga, but the report did not provide further details on the nature, duration or enforcement mechanism of those restrictions.
Most of the passengers were students travelling from Bokakhat to Nagaon. The severity of the collision caused extensive damage to the minibus and complicated rescue operations, with passengers trapped in the mangled vehicle. The injured were first treated at the local hospital before critical patients were moved to the medical college hospital in Jorhat.
Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma expressed anguish over the deaths and said the government’s immediate priority was to ensure medical treatment for the injured. “I am deeply distressed by the tragic accident in Kaziranga earlier today. All of Assam stands with them in this hour of grief. Our foremost priority now is to make sure the injured receive the best possible medical care without delay,” Sarma said.
Sarma added that Bora was at the crash site and overseeing relief arrangements. The authorities’ immediate response remains focused on rescue, treatment and support for the affected families. Further details about the investigation, the enforcement of the highway restrictions and any action against those responsible were not provided in the report.
