Bus overturns in Hooghly killing 2 women on way to Tarkeshwar temple

A horrific road accident turned a holy pilgrimage into a tragedy early Tuesday morning when a passenger bus overturned in Hooghly's Arambagh area, claiming the lives of two women. The incident occurred around 7:00 AM in the Adambandh locality when the bus, operating on the Burdwan-Tarakeshwar route with 40 to 50 passengers on board, suddenly lost control. The vehicle veered off the road and flipped sideways into a roadside ditch, trapping dozens of passengers inside.

The two deceased victims have been identified as 65-year-old Lakshmi Murmu and 35-year-old Sharmila Soren, both residents of the Dhadan area in East Burdwan. They were traveling to the renowned temple town of Tarakeswar to perform the religious ritual of pouring holy water on Lord Shiva. Local residents rushed to the crash site immediately upon hearing the impact, working frantically with their bare hands to pull trapped passengers out from the mangled wreckage before emergency services arrived.

The accident quickly triggered heavy tension in the area as local residents erupted in angry protests. The crowd agitated against authorities, citing a severe delay in the arrival of ambulances and official rescue teams to help the victims. Protesters also pointed to the persistently dilapidated condition of the local stretch as the primary cause of the crash, stating that repeated administrative appeals for road repairs had been completely ignored.