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Bus passengers trapped in swirling waters rescued

Special Correspondent

It took six to seven hours to move them out to safety

JAIPUR: A bus-load of passengers -- most of whom were women and children out on the festival day of Rakhi -- who got trapped on Wednesday in the swirling waters of the Banas in the Khemner police station area of Rajsamand district in South Rajasthan were rescued by sunset. It took six-seven hours for the district administration and the police to use cranes and move out the passengers, who waited on top of the bus, to the land.

Speaking on phone, Congress MLA from Nathdwara C.P.Joshi said all the passengers were brought to safety with the help of cranes, as the helicopters, sought by the civic authorities, did not arrive.

The rescue of passengers was possible as the water levels receded in the wake of the let up in the incessant rains the area was experiencing during the day, he said.

The area falls under Nathdwara constituency.

According to eyewitnesses, the bus, a private carrier on its way from Machin to Fatehpur panchayat in the district, got trapped in the water as it tried to cross the inundated road in the Bhagri ka Nakha area around 2.30 in the afternoon.

As the driver ventured into the flooded road, the water levels rose dramatically as if in a flash flood and almost submerged the bus.

As the bus got filled with water the 50-odd passengers clambered on to the top. Thereafter it was a long ordeal as the water surrounded them on all four sides.

The District Collector, Superintendent of Police and the local MLA, Dr. Joshi, supervised the rescue operations though initially for some time nothing could be done to help as the currents were too strong for the boats to approach and the helicopters were not available.

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