15 dead after truck swerves to avoid stray cattle and rams into bus on Indian road

Death toll likely to rise as many passengers suffered critical injuries, senior police official says

People stand near the wreckage of a bus that collided with a truck in Barabanki district in Uttar Pradesh state, India (AP)

Fifteen people were killed and 32 severely injured in northern India on Thursday morning in a head-on collision between a bus and a truck that swerved off the road to avoid ramming into stray cattle.

Officials said the double-decker bus was carrying tourists from Delhi when it was hit by the truck in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki city. The tourist bus was on its way to Bahraich, a city 125 km from Uttar Pradesh’s capital Lucknow.

Both vehicles were moving at high speeds at 5.30am, when the accident took place, newspaper Hindustan Times reported, citing witnesses. Emergency responders present at the spot had to cut off portions of the bus to retrieve the injured.

Injured passengers have been shifted to a trauma hospital in Lucknow. The death toll from the accident is likely to rise as many passengers suffered critical injuries, a senior police official said.

Official data shows that more than 110,000 people lose their lives in road accidents across India every year, and most of them are traced back to Uttar Pradesh. A total of 22,655 deaths were recorded in Uttar Pradesh in 2019, the last survey by India’s ministry of roads and transport showed. This was the highest anywhere in India for 2019 and most of them were caused due to speeding.