West Bengal: 27 injured as bus, oil tanker collide on Haldia-Mecheda Highway

Purba Medinipur (West Bengal) [India], March 26 : At least 27 passengers sustained injuries when the bus they were travelling in collided with an oil tanker on the Haldia Mecheda State Highway in West Bengal's Purba Medinipur on Sunday.

All injured passengers were rushed to the Tomluk Medical College where 12 passengers were administered first aid and discharged and 15 others are still under treatment for their serious injuries.

The accident took place when the SBSTC (South Bengal State Transport Corporation) bus which was on its way from Digha to Kolkata had stopped at a crossing near Ramtarak on the highway.

A speeding oil tanker lost control and rammed into the back of the bus, according to locals.

A traffic pile up was triggered due to the accident and police personnel from Tamluk and Kolaghat police stations took control of the situation and cleared the traffic jams.

Meanwhile, earlier this month three persons were killed and two others sustained injuries as a bus fell down after breaking the railing of an overbridge near Tatarpur on the National Highway in Monday morning in Uttar Pradesh.

The accident took place when the bus was on its way to Mainpuri from Delhi, Police said.

Also, last week in Madhya Pradesh, at least 26 people were injured as a Gujarat-bound bus overturned after falling off a culvert in the Ujjain district of the State.

Fourteen people including six girls and seven male students were injured when an "overloaded" eco-van skidded off the road and rolled down into a gorge in Poonch district in the second week on March this year.

The accident took place near Keri Kangra in Mendhar, Poonch when the driver of the eco van lost control over it and the vehicle rolled down many feet into a gorge, according to officials.

Basel [Switzerland], March 26 : The Commonwealth Games champions Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy on Sunday defeated China's Tang Qian and Ren Yu Xiang to clinch the Swiss Open men's badminton doubles title in Basel.

Shetty-Rankireddy, sixth in the badminton rankings, got the better of the World No. 21 Chinese pair 21-19, 24-22 to win their first title of the 2023 badminton season.

Both partners entered the match with a determined attitude and were unyielding in the opening exchanges.

Qiang and Xiang Yu put up a strong defensive effort, including a 47-shot rally to win the fifth point, but Shetty and Rankireddy kept extending their lead to win the first game of the BWF Super 300 championship.

It was the first time that Tan Qiang and Ren Xiang Yu had dropped a game at the Swiss Open 2023.

Even in the second game, there wasn't much separating the two squads. The Indians built a three-point lead after the scores were tied at 11-11 because of Shetty's strong smashes and Rankireddy's precise touches.

Qiang and Xiang Yu launched a series of offensive strokes in an attempt to stage a comeback. Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy won the match in 54 minutes after saving four match points.

Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy's previous Badminton World Federation titles came at the French Open 2022 BWF Super 750 tournament in October. Next, the Indian badminton players are likely to be in action at the Spain Masters BWF Super 300 in Madrid next week.