TURA: A father and his daughter heading back home to Mankachar from Assam’s Goalpara met with a tragic end when the public transport bus they were travelling in lost control and overturned near Hollaidanga reserve forest of Tikrikilla in West Garo Hills on Monday evening.
As many as 35 other passengers sustained injuries with one being shifted to Guwahati in a serious condition.
52-year-old Munaf Ali Khandokar and his daughter Munsufa Parvin, aged five, were travelling on the Assam registered bus AS 01 EC-9688 with more than thirty five other passengers from Goalpara to their home village of Rangapani in Mankachar on Monday evening.
According to the passengers and eye witness accounts, the bus was travelling at aneck break speed despite the poor and narrow condition of the road when the mishap occurred. The driver of the bus lost control of the vehicle and it overturned crushing to death young Munsufa and her father. The driver and the conductor of the bus fled from the scene immediately after the mishap leaving behind the other injured passengers unattended.
Seriously injured passenger, Aminul Islam, has been taken to Guwahati for further medical treatment.
Absence of vehicle and drivers scrutiny by transport department officials have often led to poorly maintained vehicles and ill-trained drivers being put on the roads leading to accidents and loss of precious human lives in the Garo Hills.