Woman killed, 30 devotees injured in accident

SITAPUR - A woman was killed and 30 other devotees were injured, 15 of them critically, when a private bus carrying them to a temple overturned in Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur district Saturday, police said.

The accident took place in the Pisawan area, some 80 km from Lucknow, when the bus carrying the passengers to the famous Gokaran Nath Shiva Temple in Lakhimpur district overturned and fell into a roadside ditch.

“While a woman died on the spot, we managed to rescue other devotees who were trapped inside the bus,” police inspector B.N. Mishra told reporters in Sitapur.

“All the injured were rushed to a hospital where the condition of around 15 devotees is stated to be critical,” he added.

The devotees were residents of Bahraich district.

Police said the bus was over-speeding and overturned after the driver applied brakes suddenly to avoid a collision with another vehicle coming from the opposite direction.

The bus driver who received minor injuries fled after the accident.