Five dead, 40 injured in West Bengal bus accident

Five people died and at least 40 were injured when a long-distance bus hit a tree and fell into a ditch in West Bengal.

The accident, according to the police, took place at Ulluberia sub-division of Howrah district, about 30 km from here. The police said there were at least 60 passengers in the bus coming from Dihibursut.

The incident took place near Siagore bridge in the rural pocket of Nischindrapur when the driver of the Howrah Town-bound bus lost control after one of the front tyres burst.

The driver, according to the police, fled the scene immediately after the accident.

District police superintendent Neeraj Kumar Singh told IANS that four of those killed were bus passengers, and the fifth was the bus conductor.

"Three died on the spot, while two others succumbed (to their injuries) in a hospital,'" he said.

At least 33 of the injured, five of them in serious conditions, have been taken to hospitals in Howrah and neighbouring Kolkata, Singh said.