Rourkela: Four persons died in the bus-truck collision near Chandiposh in Sundargarh district on Tuesday night. Nineteen injured are undergoing treatment in different hospitals, with two of them being in a critical condition.The deceased were identified as bus drivers Niranjan Rout (52) of Rourkela and Manas Kumar Panda (36) of Jajpur, helper Siba Prasad Nayak (50) of Jajpur, and truck driver Santu Yadav (31) of Bihar.Post-mortems of Rout, Panda and Nayak were conducted on Wednesday and the bodies handed over to their families. Yadav’s autopsy will be done after his family arrives.The accident took place when the bus jumped the divider and collided with a truck on NH-143. Front portions of both vehicles were mangled under the impact.The bus was traveling from Rourkela to Jajpur when it crossed the divider around 9.10 pm near Musabira, about 2 km from Chandiposh police station. Police, fire-fighters and locals carried out a rescue operation, breaking open the emergency exit to free the trapped passengers. A gas cutter was used.The injured were shifted to Rourkela Government Hospital (RGH) and private hospitals. Twelve are admitted to RGH, while several others are being treated elsewhere; two are in the ICU. Two minor children, aged 2 and 6, sustained minor injuries and are stable.Traffic on the highway was briefly disrupted and resumed after the damaged vehicles were cleared. “Both the bus and the truck have been seized, and we are examining the circumstances leading to the crash,” said S Khamari, IIC of Chandiposh police station.
