This was an accident that once again proved how unsafe the highways have become. As eyewitness accounts suggest, the driver lost control over the vehicle while trying to let a car overtake the bus. The roadside made slippery by drizzles must have been the cause behind the bus tumbling down into the river.

The rescue operations that followed were a total botch-up. The cable of the crane used to lift the vehicle snapped, which was an extremely shocking experience for the onlookers that included the near and dear ones of the victims. It was really a heart-rending scene.

The local people rushed to the spot and tried their best to help the trapped people come out of the vehicle. But it is the rescue operations on the part of the designated organisations that left a lot to be desired.

The manager of the apparel factory concerned contradicted the report that a big number of garment workers were missing. If his version of the accident is true, then there were less than a dozen workers of his factory in the bus. However, reports coming from the spot do not corroborate the manager's claim. The point that we want to make is: human lives should not be such a cheap and negligible thing that there could be such big discrepancies between two versions of the same accident. Nobody should be allowed to evade his/her responsibility when something goes so terribly wrong and when disowning the victims could be prompted by understandable motives.

Some accidents cannot really be prevented, but it is really sad that we have failed to remove the elementary risk factors on the roads. In this case, the driver of the bus and that of the car which overtook the former appear to have made mistakes, but it is also true that road conditions are far from safe in most places due to poor maintenance. We wonder what has happened to the much-vaunted highway patrol police. When will their presence be felt?

We are greatly shocked at the tragic loss of some budding lives and express our sympathy for the bereaved families.