Tripura to probe mysterious death of five passengers

The Tripura State Government has ordered an official inquiry into the mysterious deaths of five passengers of Jharkhand, who were found dead in two Agartala-bound night buses on Thursday.

By Pinaki Das

Agartala, Oct 14 : The Tripura State Government has ordered an official inquiry into the mysterious deaths of five passengers of Jharkhand, who were found dead in two Agartala-bound night buses on Thursday.

Chief Secretary of Tripura, Sashi Prakash has spoken with his Jharkhand counterpart over phone, and has apprised him of the incident, sources said.

It is suspected that the five people died of suffocation as both the vehicles were completely packed with passengers.

The victims include a 28-year-old woman from Jharkhand, who was travelling to Tripura to work in brickfields.

There were over 70 passengers in the 35-seater bus and few hours after the buses had left Guwahati on Wednesday, many passengers complained of sickness due to suffocation.

Sources said the bus drivers refused the passengers' appeal to stop the vehicles midway due to security reasons.

Many passengers were later admitted to the government hospital at Kumarghat in north Tripura in critical conditions. The bus operators have been arrested.

ANI