Kanpur: Five members of a family, including two minor girls, were killed and eight others injured after a sleeper bus, allegedly travelling at over 100 kmph and driven by a drowsy driver, crossed the divider and rammed head-on into an SUV on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway in Unnao’s Bangarmau area early Wednesday.Circle officer (CO) Bangarmau Harsh Modi said that the bus, travelling from Haryana to Bihar, reportedly went out of control after the driver fell asleep, broke through the divider and entered the opposite carriageway before crashing into the SUV heading towards Agra. The SUV was travelling from Lucknow towards Agra. After the collision, the bus overturned into a roadside ditch.There were 85 passengers aboard the sleeper bus and nine people travelling in the SUV. All five victims were occupants of the SUV. Eight others—four from the SUV and four bus passengers—were injured and referred to the district hospital for treatment. According to the CO, preliminary investigation suggests the bus driver may have dozed off, causing the vehicle to cross the divider, though the exact cause of the accident is still under investigation. “The bodies have been sent for post-mortem examination,” he said.Bangarmau inspector Akhilesh Pandey said, “Passengers reported that the bus driver was under the influence of alcohol. We will investigate what actually happened. The families of the deceased have been notified.”Police said the impact was so severe that the SUV was mangled and dragged nearly 20 feet. Panic gripped the area as bystanders alerted the police, following which rescue operations were launched. Passengers trapped inside the overturned bus were rescued by breaking its window panes, and the injured were rushed to hospital.The deceased were identified as Vinod (45), his daughter Divya (6), Anju (40), her daughter Amrita (13), and Bhunbhun (60), a relative of Vinod.Aryan, one of the injured travelling in the SUV, said, “We are residents of Badhya Babu village in Sant Kabir Nagar. We were travelling to Vrindavan and Mathura with our family.”Dr Sunil Rathore of CHC Bangarmau said 17 people were brought to the hospital after the accident. Of them, five were declared dead. Four other occupants of the SUV and four bus passengers sustained injuries and were undergoing treatment.Police later removed the damaged vehicles from the expressway, and traffic resumed after a brief disruption.
