Bhopal(Madhya Pradesh): After having food from dhaba, the bus’s gear box was not working properly. On the slope, it lost control and the mishap took place. This is what one of the passengers stated while talking to media after the accident.
He was one of the passengers who was travelling in the sleeper bus that rammed into a trailer-truck from behind in Rewa district on late Friday night that left 15 people dead and 40 injured.
Officials informed that the labourers had decided to take a bus to reach their houses on the Dipawali festival.
All of them were happy and had purchased items for the family like sari, clothes for children and many other decorative items for display in their houses. But for many, this Dipawali brought misery because of accident.
The survivor further added that few of the passengers asked the driver to check the problem properly before starting. But some of them asked to first drop them and then go for repairs.
Another thirty-year-old labourer Subhash Choudhary was in deep slumber. But a loud thud broke his sleep and his dream soon turned into a nightmare as he saw people writhing in pain and lying in pools of blood around him.
Although Choudhary survived, he suffered injuries on his hand and legs. He was going to his hometown Maharajganj in Uttar Pradesh from Hyderabad to celebrate Diwali with his loved ones. But the accident shattered his dream as he is now undergoing treatment in a hospital in Rewa.
"I was fast asleep and celebrating Diwali in my dream. I had gone to sleep after having dinner with fellow passengers. But I woke up to a loud thud. In a second or two, cries like 'God save me, God help me' resonated in our bus," he said.
"My dream soon turned into a nightmare and I literally felt stars were tumbling around me. I was writhing in pain and there were several others like me. I saw helpless people in pools of blood inside the bus. Some of them were not responding, while some others were gasping for breath," he added.
Choudhary is currently being treated at the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Rewa.
"Our dream to return home and celebrate the festival turned to ashes. I became numb," he added.
Another survivor Manish Sakat (21), also a resident of Maharajganj, sustained injury on his head and chest. Speaking in a feeble voice, he said the deafening sound of the bus crash and the cries soon afterwards left him terrified and compelled him to shut his eyes.
"I was so frightened that I closed my eyes. After that, I don't know what happened. After some time, I regained my consciousness only to find myself in Sanjay Gandhi hospital," he said.
