Kota: Eight people from Madhya Pradesh, including four women, were killed after the bus they were travelling in veered off Delhi-Mumbai Expressway near Kota and plunged into a 15-foot-deep roadside drain Saturday morning.The incident under Simliya police station left 16 others hospitalised with injuries.Rescue efforts were launched promptly but were hampered by mud and accumulated water in the drain, and cranes had to be brought in to lift the vehicle and pull out trapped passengers.Simliya SHO Nand Singh confirmed to TOI that eight bodies had been retrieved from the wreckage.Police said the bus had left Bhopal Friday evening carrying 25 members of multiple interrelated families for a 4-to-5-day religious tour of Rajasthan, and was headed towards the group’s first destination — Khatu Shyamji temple in Sikar — at the time of the accident.Police said the accident occurred around 6am when most passengers were asleep, adding that initial suspicions as to the cause pointed to possible driver negligence or drowsiness.The injured were taken to Kota’s New Medical College Hospital (NMCH) and MBS Hospital. NMCH principal Nilesh Jain said multiple injured patients were provided primary stabilisation and treatment. Among the 16 injured currently admitted at the two hospitals, six are women while two are minor girls, doctors said.Senior police and administrative officials were at the scene of the accident to supervise rescue operations. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who represents the Kota parliamentary constituency, later reached NMCH to interact with the injured.The deceased have been identified as Anita (50), her husband Rajkumar and bus driver Sachin Giri (27) – all residents of Bhopal district; and Aruna, Vaishnavi (25), Trisha (22), Krishnarao (55) and Om Suryavanshi (26) – all residents of Betul district.
