Woman killed, 58 injured as crowded bus hits tree

At least three persons, including a woman, were killed and 58 others injured, eight of them critically, in two separate road accidents in Odisha's Ganjam and Balasore districts today.
A 50-year-old woman was killed and 58 injured, eight of them seriously, when a bus dashed against a roadside tree at Baunsakata near Bhanjanagar in Ganjam district this morning, the police said.
The deceased was identified as Pana Sari of G. Udayagiri in Kandhamal district, said Inspector In-charge of Bhanjanagar police station, A K Sahu.
The overcrowded Berhampur-bound bus was coming from Indragada when it met with the accident near Muzagarh under Bhanjanagar police station limits.

While the eight seriously injured persons were referred to MKCG Medical College and Hospital here, others were treated at the sub-divisional hospital, Bhanjanagar, the police said.
State's forest minister Bikram Keshari Arukh, who hails from Bhanjanagar, visited the hospital and interacted with the victims of the accident.

"The bus was seized. The driver fled from the spot," the police said.
In Balasore district, two persons died when a motor bike in which they were travelling, was hit by a truck on National Highway No. 5 near Simulia within the jurisdiction of Simulia police station today, the police said.
The victims were approaching the National Highway after filling fuel from a petrol pump when the two-wheeler was hit by the truck. The truck was seized and the driver arrested, the police said.