Maharashtra bus was travelling at 45 kmph when it fell into Narmada river

Mumbai: The Maharashtra state transport bus that fell off a bridge into the Narmada river in Madhya Pradesh on Monday was travelling at 45 kmph and not over-speeding, according to Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) officials. They said a probe was ordered to find out the exact circumstances leading to the accident in view of the initial findings that suggested the bus was not speeding.

A top official said the bus was fitted with a Vehicle Tracking System (VTS). As per the records retrieved from the system, the bus was travelling at 45 kilometres per hour (kmph) when it plunged into the river at 9.47 AM.

"It means the bus wasn't overspending," said the official.

He said an inquiry has been ordered to find out what happened at the time of the accident as the bus broke the railings of the bridge from the driver's side before going down.

At least 12 passengers were killed after the bus fell off the bridge between Khalghat and Thigari in the Dhar district, a few hours after it left for Amalner in Maharashtra from Indore. All the public transport buses, including those operated by MSRTC, are locked at the maximum speed of 80 kmph through a device known as the "speed governor".

Another senior official said media reports that 40-50 passengers travelling on the bus were wrong.

The MSRTC officials pointed out that all the doors of the bus were locked when it was pulled out from the riverbed with the help of a crane. This implies there is less likelihood that anyone might have washed away in the river. Also, the ticketing machine records indicate the same.

"Throughout the day, no one has come forward saying that their relative was on board the bus and has been missing. Neither we received any complaint on the helpline, nor anyone contacted the local administration at the spot," he said, adding that the relatives of all the accident victims have come forward.

Another MSRTC official, who is at the accident spot, told PTI over the phone that the bus had ten passengers besides the driver and the conductor.

He said the local administration has stopped the search and rescue operation at the spot.

Notably, MP Home Department's Additional Chief Secretary Dr Rajesh Rajora told PTI on Monday evening that 12 people were killed in the accident and two passengers are possibly missing.

He had also said that a search operation involving the personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and Home Guard jawans is on to trace the missing passengers.

The bus was operated by the Amalner depot in the Jalgaon district on the Indore-Amalner route.

The MSRTC official further said the ticket machine records show that the bus had nine passengers on board when it departed from Mhow in Madhya Pradesh around 8.15 AM, but another passenger boarded at Dharmapuri, where the bus stopped at around 9.17 AM for a few minutes.

Dharmapuri is a few kilometres away from the Narmada river bridge near Khalghat.

The tenth passenger might have boarded the bus at Dharmapuri, which is one of the official stoppages, but the bus might have met the accident before the ticket was issued to that passenger, officials added.

The MSRTC adopted an advanced GPS-based ticketing system a few years ago because of which whenever a conductor issues a ticket, the information gets updated on the central ticketing server.