Bus catches fire after hitting bike, 2 die

Jajpur: In a shocking incident, a bus caught fire after hitting a two-wheeler near Chhatia on National Highway 16 under Barachana police limits in Jajpur district on Monday. Two persons, including a woman,who were on the two-wheeler, were killed. The deceased were yet to be identified.

According to reports, the private passenger bus was on its way towards Bhubaneswar from Balasore when it hit the two-wheeler. The collision dragged the two persons, who were on the motorcycle, for some distance before they were killed.

The bus caught fire after the mishap. Fortunately, all the passengers aboard the bus managed to escape unharmed, as they got down quickly from the vehicle before the fire could spread.

On being informed, Fire Services personnel of Chandikhole rushed to the spot and doused the flames. Police personnel from Chhatia beat house also reached the spot and managed the traffic as vehicular movement on the route was disrupted for nearly an hour following the accident.

Police have seized the bodies and sent them to Barachana CHC for postmortem. Police have also seized the bus and the bike after registering a case and further investigation is underway.Barachana police station IIC Srikant Barik said efforts are on to ascertain the identity of the deceased.