TURA, Oct 1: The death toll from the night bus accident at Nongchram bridge involving a Shillong bound MTC passenger bus on Wednesday night has risen to eight following the recovery of two more bodies from the site on Friday morning.
The bodies of the second MTC driver and a passenger were found inside the water and slush filled bus after it was lifted out of the river bed by high powered cranes during an operation conducted by the state fire and rescue teams of the Meghalaya police with assistance from other agencies and specialised retrieval teams.
“The body of the second driver of the bus was first located and retrieved at 9 am and the other body of the passenger was found at 11:45 in the morning,” informed East Garo Hills Superintendent of Police Bruno A Sangma.
Initial reports on the first morning after the accident had put the casualty list as 6 dead out of a total of 21 passengers and crew from the night bus.
The recovery of the last two missing victims has raised the final list to 23.
The second MTC driver whose body was fished out this morning has been identified as Dapborlang Wankhar, 40 years, who hailed from Mawlyngad, Mawrynkneng in East Khasi Hills.
The other body has been identified as Larsen M Marak, 25 years, a resident of Chidekgre in Williamnagar, East Garo Hills.
The ill-fated MTC bus that left Tura with a number of passengers from Williamnagar, bound for Shillong, was speeding along the highway when it went over the Nongchram bridge, just 10 kms from Rongjeng town, a distance of 64 kms from Williamnagar.
Two young girls and three young men lost their lives together with the driver of the bus who is accused of having driven the vehicle under the influence of alcohol.
There are 15 other passengers who have been admitted to various hospitals with injuries to the head, fractures and open wounds.
Calls have been made by the public for the government to put in place strong measures to stop drunk driving, particularly of public and commercial vehicles.