Purvanchal Expressway Bus Accident: 5 killed, 41 injured as bus with migrant workers overturns on Purvanchal eway | Lucknow News

Lucknow: At least five passengers were killed and 41 injured when a sleeper bus overturned on the Purvanchal Expressway near Gosaiganj area of Lucknow on Monday evening, triggering panic and a large-scale rescue operation. Among the dead were two children and a teenager.Police, on the basis of a preliminary probe, claimed the driver had drunk alcohol at a roadside eatery and that a brief lapse in concentration (microsleep) after that led to the accident. Police seized liquor bottles from the site.The bus driver, travelling from Ludhiana, in Punjab, to Darbhanga, Bihar, lost control and the bus flipped at high speed at around 3 pm. Eyewitnesses said the vehicle swayed violently before hitting a divider and flipping over.According to officials, 28 injured passengers, including seven children, were referred to the Apex Trauma Centre at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, while others were being treated at Lokbandhu Hospital, Gosaiganj Community Health Centre and KGMU Trauma Centre.Fifteen of the injured were rushed to KGMU Trauma Centre; of them, a woman with a head injury was in critical condition, while 14 others were stable, doctors at KGMU said.DM Vishakh G Iyer confirmed five deaths. Police commissioner Amrendra Singh Sengar informed the media that the driver, Som Pal, was taken into custody and an FIR was being registered.Among the five dead were Birendra (30), son of Sikandar Rao, a resident of Sitamarhi, Bihar; Anjali (8) and Priyanshu (15). Two other deceased — a six-year-old boy and a 30-year-old man — were yet to be identified.A disturbing video from the scene showed bodies toppling out of the bus windows as it was lifted upright by a crane. Several passengers were seen trapped or hanging from broken windows, crying for help.Transport dept officials suspect possible violations in the bus’s internal structure. A preliminary inspection suggests that the emergency exit may have been blocked and the number of seats had been increased beyond permissible limits.Some passengers claimed that over 50 people were on board, far over capacity. Most were migrant workers returning home ahead of Holi.The bus, registered in Haryana’s Panipat district in 2019, had valid fitness and insurance documents, but officials noted prior challans against it. A detailed mechanical and regulatory probe is underway.Traffic was briefly disrupted on the expressway after the accident but the road was cleared soon and normal traffic restored.