Guwahati: Tragedy struck early in the morning on Wednesday when a bus collided head-on with a truck near Dergaon in Assam’s Golaghat district.
At least 12 people are said to have been killed which includes five women and a minor boy, officials informed.
The bus with 45 picnic party passengers was heading towards Tinsukia when it collided with a truck coming from the opposite direction on the under-construction national highway near Balijan, Dergaon in Golaghat district of Assam.
According to initial reports coming in the highway construction authority created a diversion on the 4-lane road, leading to the truck entering the “wrong lane”.
“Foggy conditions made matters worse,” a local resident said.
Around 45 persons were traveling in the bus from Kamarbandha to Tinsukia’s Tilinga Temple and Dibrugarh’s Bogibeel for a New Year picnic.
“We are investigating the cause of the accident. We recently had a meeting with road safety experts from Delhi and NHDCL assured us that proper signage and other rectification work on the highway will be completed within a month. It is unfortunate that this happened today. But we can only tell more on how the accident happened after police and the authorities complete the investigation,” said Golaghat deputy commissioner P Uday Praveen.
The injured were rushed to the hospital for further treatment.