Patna: At least 40 passengers were feared dead when a Patna bound bus from Hajipur area of Vaishali district in Bihar, plunged into the Ganga river early wee hours on Saturday.
The bus fell into the river at 0130 hours IST, however the rescue efforts could not begin due to unavailability of cranes with the local administration, Patna Divisional Commissioner Ravindra Pawar said.
"It is feared that almost all the passengers are dead. Though we cannot completely rule out the possibility of survivors, none has come forward claiming himself as one," Pawar said.
Pawar, Patna District Magistrate B Rajender and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kundan Krishnan reached the site.
Pawar refused to hazard about the toll and said the bus was full at the time of the mishap. The vehicle had plunged into the river near pillar no 41 close to Ghaighat under Alamganj police station of Patna.
A team of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), headed by Rajiv Jha, Project Officer for Bihar, and Assistant Project Officer Kumar Deepak, told PTI they had sought help of the army and CRPF to look for the possible survivors and extricate the bodies.
Pawar said since the cranes available here were not in a position to pull out the bus, Inland Waterways Authority office in Kolkata has been approached.
Meanwhile the local divers pressed into service to look for survivors and extricate the bodies from the bus which lying about 2 metres under the water, he said.
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