At least nine people, including eight female farm labourers, died when a state transport bus hit an auto-rickshaw in Birbhum district of the Indian State of West Bengal on Tuesday afternoon, a senior police officer said.
The incident occurred on National Highway-60 at Mallarpur near Rampurhat when a bus of South Bengal State Transport Corporation (SBSTC) rammed an overcrowded auto-rickshaw.
Birbhum district Superintendent of Police Nagendra Nath Tripathi said that the eight women were passengers of the three-wheeler and the ninth victim its driver.
The women were returning home from a paddy field, he said.
Their bodies have been taken to Arambagh hospital, where a post-mortem would be conducted, the SP said.
The bus was on its way to Durgapur from Arambagh when the collision occurred.
Source: Deccan Herald