At least 46 passengers were killed and 20 others injured on Monday when a bus skidded into a roadside pond near Calcutta, capital of India's east state of WestBengal 1,460 kilometers southeast of New Delhl.
The overcrowded tourist bus fell into the pond after one of itsfront tires burst at around 10:15 AM local time at Bantalla in theoutskirts of the city, according to the Press Trust of India (PTI).
Forty-six bodies had been recovered from the partly submerged bus and rescue operations were in full swing as more passengers were feared trapped inside, PTI said, quoting a local official.
West Bengal Chief Minister Budhadev Bhattacharjee, who rushed to the spot with three state ministers to oversee rescue operations, termed the accident as "tragic".
(Xinhua News Agency May 28, 2002)
