At least nine people were killed and more than 40 injured in a series of accidents across Chhattisgarh, including a passenger-bus crash in Manendragarh-Chirmiri-Bharatpur district and a fatal incident involving the Vijay Rath during Bastar Dussehra celebrations in Jagdalpur.
The largest accident occurred around noon on Thursday when a private passenger bus travelling from Manendragarh towards Kelhari veered off the road and hit a tree at the Semarmathani bend near Pahadhanswahi village, about seven kilometres from Kelhari. Six people, including two girls aged nine and 12 and the bus owner, died in the crash, while more than 40 passengers were injured, according to the report.
Police and local residents helped evacuate the passengers and took them to the Kelhari community health centre. The injured were also admitted to hospitals in Manendragarh and Chirmiri, while some continued to receive treatment at Kelhari. Five injured people, including the bus driver, were reported to be in serious condition.
An injured pregnant woman was referred to Ambikapur Medical College after her unborn baby was reported to have died. Children were among those injured in the crash. Preliminary accounts pointed to a possible steering failure, but the cause had not been established at the time of the report.
The bus crash came a day after a separate fatal incident during the Bastar Dussehra celebrations in Jagdalpur. One man, identified as Koparam Kashyap of Surguda village in Bastanar block, died after coming under the massive eight-wheeled Vijay Rath during the Bhitar Raini ritual on Wednesday night. Two others were seriously injured.
One of the injured men, identified as Sukhram Mandavi of Lohandiguda, suffered a grievous leg injury after coming under a wheel and was taken to Maharani Hospital. Another person was injured at Lalbagh after reportedly coming into contact with the moving chariot. The incident occurred before President Droupadi Murmu’s scheduled visit to Jagdalpur on Friday for the Muria Darbar and other Bastar Dussehra programmes.
Thousands of tribal villagers, devotees and visitors attend the festival, one of Bastar’s major cultural and religious traditions. The Vijay Rath is pulled by tribal villagers as part of rituals associated with Maa Danteshwari. The size of the chariot and the crowds around it make crowd regulation and maintaining a safe distance from its wheels important during the procession.
Two additional deaths were reported in separate road accidents in Raigarh district. In Kharsia, 24-year-old Piyush Chauhan died after the scooter on which he was travelling collided with an oncoming motorcycle on Chhote Mudpar main road. He had been returning from a Dussehra fair with friends Devendra Sahis and Akash Mahant, who were injured and taken to hospital. Police registered a case against the motorcycle rider and began investigating the collision.
In another accident under Chhal police station, a motorcyclist identified as Shobha Dhanwar of Kharra died after his vehicle left the road and struck a tree. Villagers found him on Thursday morning and informed the police. Investigations into the separate crashes and the bus accident were continuing.
