Highway Crash in India Leaves Five Dead After Bus Hits Stationary Truck

A tragic collision occurred early Monday morning on National Highway 130 in the Baloda Bazar-Bhatapara district, when a passenger bus crashed into a stationary truck, claiming the lives of five people and injuring 14 others. According to local police, the Royal Company bus was traveling from Ambikapur to Raipur with 22 passengers on board when the incident happened at approximately 5:30 a.m. near the village of Darchura, close to an Indian Oil petrol pump near Simga.

The impact of the collision was severe, instantly killing the bus driver, Bhagirathi Yadav, a resident of Jashpur, along with helper Pawan Devangan and Shamim Mohammad. Fourteen other passengers sustained injuries during the crash. Rescue operations required emergency crews to use gas cutters and specialized equipment to free passengers trapped inside the heavily damaged wreckage of the bus.

Following the initial rescue, authorities transported the injured to the Simga Community Health Center for medical treatment. Due to the severity of their conditions, six patients with critical injuries were subsequently referred to Raipur for advanced medical care. Tragically, two of the critically injured passengers, identified as Atul and Sunderlal, succumbed to their injuries while being transported to Raipur.

The accident has raised significant safety concerns regarding stationary vehicles on major highways. Police noted that the truck had broken down and was parked on the road, with traffic cones placed around it to alert oncoming motorists. Investigators are examining why the bus driver failed to notice the disabled vehicle in the early morning hours, whether the warning markers were placed at an adequate distance, and if highway patrolling units were previously aware of the hazard.

This stretch of National Highway 130 has a history of severe traffic incidents. Local reports highlighted that a previous major accident in the same region on March 6, 2026, also resulted in five deaths and left 29 people injured, requiring extensive medical evacuations to Raipur at that time.

In a separate unrelated incident in the region on the same day, a separate road accident in Dhamtari district resulted in one fatality and four injuries. That morning collision involved a motorcycle crash near Hankhalpur in Bhakhara, where 17-year-old Dwarika Yadav was killed after his motorcycle collided with another bike while traveling with a friend.

As local authorities continue their investigation into the highway collision near Simga, community members and safety advocates are calling for stricter enforcement and better rapid-response protocols to clear disabled commercial vehicles from high-speed corridors during nighttime and early morning hours to prevent similar disasters.