Raipur: At least 15 people were killed and 14 others hurt when a bus carrying staff members of a private company fell into a 50 ft-deep mine pit at Khapri under Durg district in Chhattisgarh, police said on Thursday.
The incident took place at around nine pm on Wednesday.
The bus carrying employees of a local distillery plant to their homes after completion of their shift duty skidded off the road and fell into the 50-ft-deep murum soil mine, leading to the tragedy, Durg district superintendent of police Jitendra Shukla said.
Murum is a red soil used for construction works.
While eleven people were killed on the spot, four others died in hospital, police said.
Passersby and the injured passengers alerted the people on the accident, leading the cops to rush to the spot to launch the rescue operation.
The rescue operation had to be carried out with the help of torches and mobile phone flash lights as the accident site had no lights, police said.
The police retrieved bodies of the slain passengers and rescued the injured who were admitted to different hospitals in Raipur, around 40 km away.
The rescue operation continued till Thursday morning, police said.
Durg district collector Richa Prakash Choudhury ordered a magisterial enquiry into the incident.
Deputy chief minister of Chhattisgarh government Vijay Sharma along with senior district officers reached the spot on Thursday morning to take stock of the situation.
Chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai on Thursday visited the injured in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Raipur.
Mr Sai said that the private company would release an ex-gratia of Rs ten lakh each to the kin of the slain employees. Besides, a member of the family of the deceased would be absorbed in the company.
The chief minister expressed deep sorrow over the loss of so many lives in the incident.
President Draupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also offered condolence to the families of those who died in the incident.
Mr Modi said that the local administration has been engaged in helping the victims in every possible way.
