Children Were Shouting 'Save Us': Eyewitness Recalls Assam Bus-Truck Crash

Amin Bawri was travelling on his two-wheeler with a friend around 30 metres behind a Force Traveller bus on National Highway 715 near Kaziranga spread when the vehicle picked up a woman and a child. Moments later, he heard a loud bang and saw smoke in front of him. That's when he realised that the bus had met with an accident.

Locals and residents were the first to reach the accident spot when the Force Traveller collided head-on with a truck. At least 26 people were killed in the accident, while several others were injured and taken to nearby medical facilities.

With the vehicle's doors shut and several people trapped inside, rescuers broke the windows to reach those crying for help.

One of the first people to reach the spot was Amin Bawri and his friend.

"We were travelling behind the tempo traveller. After it left the village, the vehicle stopped to pick up a woman and a small child. As it started moving again, we suddenly heard a very loud sound. There was smoke everywhere, and initially, we could barely see anything. That was when we realised the Tempo Traveller had met with an accident," Bawri recalled.

What followed was a desperate attempt to reach those trapped inside. Bawri said passengers, including children, were shouting for help, but the rescuers could not open the vehicle's doors.

"Children were crying and shouting 'save us, save us'. The doors were closed, so we broke the glass and started pulling out whoever we could. My friend and I were the only ones initially trying to rescue them. We kept taking the injured in whichever vehicles were available and dropping them at the Kohora Medical Centre," he said.

According to Bawri, they arranged around six vehicles to shift the injured. The two men continued helping at the spot and eventually had to assist in moving the bodies of those who had died.

"The condition inside (the bus) was extremely bad. The seats had come off. Looking at the damage, it was difficult to believe that many people could survive," he said.

Bawri said the smoke coming out of the vehicle scared some people who were unsure about whether to approach it. But he and his friend decided to begin the rescue without waiting for emergency teams to arrive.

"There was smoke everywhere. People were scared to stop because they did not know what might happen. But we decided that whatever happened later, we had to save the people first. If we had waited to break the windows and pull them out, even more lives could have been lost," he said.

Rescue Continued Despite Family Members' Deaths

Vikas, another resident who joined the rescue effort, said four members of his family were among those killed.

"My sister, my sister-in-law, my aunt and my brother were killed. All four were from my family. We also helped carry the injured and take them to the hospital," Vikas said.

Even as he dealt with the loss of his relatives, Vikas joined others in shifting the injured.

Questions Arise

The eyewitness accounts have raised questions about emergency response arrangements along the highway and the facilities available at the nearby medical centre.

"There are not enough facilities at the (Kohora) medical centre. There is no proper arrangement to shift patients, not even a stretcher trolley. The building has two floors, but one floor is occupied by police personnel while patients are kept on the other. The facilities are inadequate," he said.

He also questioned the time taken by government emergency services to reach the accident site.

"The tea garden ambulance arrived first. The government ambulance took a long time. Even when we called 108, there were repeated questions about the location. If we say Kohora, they should be able to identify the place. Eventually, we had to use the private ambulances available at the tea garden to shift the injured," he said.

Bawri, too, raised questions about the speed of the vehicle and the number of passengers it was carrying. He said the road had slopes on both sides and claimed that around 40 people may have been travelling in the vehicles. These details have not been independently established.

The allegations regarding ambulance response and medical infrastructure could not be independently verified from the accounts available.