At least 35 passengers had a narrow escape on Wednesday when the bus ferrying them got stranded in the middle of a swollen nullah in Maharashtra's Chandrapur district before they were rescued by police personnel.
The incident occurred in the morning when the bus coming from Madhya Pradesh headed towards Hyderabad got stuck on a bridge submerged by flooded Chincholi nullah in Rajura tehsil, 28 km from the Chandrapur district headquarters, a police official said.
The nullah was flooded after seven gates of the Irai dam were opened by a metre to discharge the excess water amid heavy rains.
The official said a few roads in the tehsil were closed as the water was flowing on various bridges.
He said police personnel deployed at the Chincholi nullah had warned the driver of the bus to not proceed, but he didn't pay attended and drove onto the flooded bridge.
"As the bus was crossing the bridge its engine malfunctioned, forcing it to stop in the middle of the bridge. Seeing this, the police personnel at the spot called up their seniors," said Wirur police station assistant inspector Rahul Chavan.
He said police personnel used big ropes to rescue the stranded passengers including children from the bus.
Mr Chavan said the driver and the conductor fled from the spot abandoning the passengers. He said police had to act swiftly as the bus became unstable due to the force of the water.
Hyderabad is located over 400 km away from Chandrapur district headquarters.
Vehicles heading towards Hyderabad often take the Rajura-Chincholi route to enter the Telangana border from the Maharashtra side.
Officials said water is being discharged from the Irai dam at 517 Cusecs (one cubic foot per second).
Due to water-logging and flood, Arvi to Rajura road has been closed for traffic, and so is Mana to Charvat Hadasti in Ballarpur tehsil.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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