Police said there were around 40 people in the private bus and the toll could go up as only 20 people were rescued so far. Eight bodies were recovered by the evening and two bodies were fished out late in the evening by the divers from Indian Navy.
The bus on its way to Kottayam from Cherthala crashed into an electricity pole at Thazhathangadi and plunged into the Meenachil River at around 2.30 p.m., three kilometers before reaching its destination. Among the dead was a relief worker who collapsed and died at the scene of the tragedy.
The accident happened when the bus reportedly gave side to a jeep coming from the opposite direction. Even though survivors said that the bus was not running on high speed, it lost control, hit the electricity pole and fell into the 30-ft deep river turning turtle several times.
Local people who rushed in saw the bus completely submerged as it was one of the deepest points of the river. It took two hours to launch the rescue operations and several more hours to lift the bus from water using cranes.
