Nine killed in West Bengal road accident

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