2 Kumrek accident survivors referred to Siliguri for treatment, One admitted at CRH

GANGTOK, 06 July: The four passengers, one of whom died on the spot, on board the SNT bus which met with an accident at Kumrek near Rangpo last evening, have been identified. It may be recalled that the SNT bus, hired by Golden Cross pharma company to ferry employees from the factory at Rorathang to Rangpo, had met with an accident at Kumrek at around 8 p.m. Thursday evening, veering off the road and plunging into the Rangpo-Sawney khola below. While none of the pharma company’s employees were on board the bus at the time, the driver, killed in the accident, appears to have picked up passengers on the way. While one of the passengers was also killed in the accident, three were injured and rushed to medical care. At the time of going to print yesterday, none of them, save the driver had been identified.
The two persons killed on the spot have been identified as Raj Kumar Sunar [44], a resident of Rangpo and the driver of the bus; and Man Bahadur Baraily, a resident of Bhasmey.
Biswajit Mandal, a resident of Murshidabad in West Bengal, and Pranay Verma of Narayan Tak in Kolkata were grievously injured and were first evacuated to Rangpo PHC and then referred to North Bengal Hospital in Siliguri for further treatment. The person injured in the mishap, Ratna Bahadur Lohar [20], who had minor head injuries and had fractured his thigh bone has been admitted at the Central Referral Hospital here at Tadong and will be operated upon soon. These details were shared by the Secretary, Transport Department, Tsegyal Tashi, while speaking to NOW! today.
The Secretary, along with other departmental officials, visited the accident site Friday morning and also called upon the wife of the deceased driver at Rangpo later. The deceased driver is survived by his wife and two children.
The spot where the accident took place is quite narrow and dangerous as the edge from where the bus fell off has nothing reinforcing it, the Secretary informs, adding that the bus was inaccessible thus hampering the rescue efforts from the road which is why officials had to call in the rafters from Chitrey to help recover the dead and rescue the injured last night.
The dead bodies have been sent to the Singtam Hospital for autopsy after which SNT will conduct the last rites, the Secretary informed.
A detailed investigation into the cause of the accident will be conducted by the department, the Secretary informs.