Patna

The state government in Bihar headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar became a subject of ridicule on Friday after the authorities claimed no one died in the bus tragedy on Thursday, barely hours after confirming 27 deaths in the incident. The bus was on the way to Delhi from Muzaffarpur town in Bihar when it overturned and caught fire in Motihari, district headquarters of East Champaran, on Thursday afternoon.

The bizarre backtrack comes shortly after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Nitish Kumar, his cabinet college and health minister Mangal Pandey and scores of other leaders had “expressed grief over the tragedy” which authorities now say has turned out to be a “fake”.

“Yes, I said 27 people have died (in the bus fire). It was based on information from local sources, but I also said that only the final report will be considered,” Bihar disaster management minister Dinesh Chandra Yadav told the media on Friday. He added “no bodies” had been recovered from the bus by the rescue teams.

Earlier, on confirmation of the death of 27 passengers by the minister, the Prime Minister and Chief Minister had expressed “grief” over the incident and also announced compensation to the victims’ families.

“My thoughts are with those who lost their loved ones due to a bus accident in Motihari. I pray that the injured recover at the earliest,” the Prime Minister tweeted on Thursday shortly after the news of death of passengers came in.

The Chief Minister even observed one-minute’s silence to pay respect to the dead. He had been addressing a function when the news of the deadly accident came in. He got up from the chair and asked the audience to stand up and observe a minute’s silence as a mark of respect.

He also expressed grief over the incident while announcing a compensation for the victims’ families on his Twitter handle.

Bihar health minister Mangal Pandey in his condolence message clearly mentioned “27 passengers have died” in the incident. He expressed deep grief over the death of 27 passengers in the bus accident and prayed the victims’ families find the strength to face the tragedy, in a written condolence message sent to media persons.

The authorities had confirmed deaths based on initial reports which said 40 passengers were travelling on the bus. But it was not until 7.30pm on Thursday that the state government was told that though 40 passengers had booked their tickets on the bus, only 13 boarded from Muzaffarpur and the remaining 27 passengers were to board at Gopalganj but the bus met with the accident before reaching there. It meant the bus had 13 passengers, two drivers, a conductor and a cleaner, according to an explanation offered by the authorities. But the “death of passengers” still remains a mystery. As per the government report, eight passengers were rescued and admitted to the hospital.

So what happened to the remaining nine who were aboard the bus? The government has no idea about their whereabouts even as it claims to have found “no body in the bus” which went up in flames after meeting with the accident.