26 killed as speeding minibus hits container truck on NH-715 near Kaziranga; inquiry ordered, ₹2 lakh for each family

At least 26 people were killed and 20 injured on Friday afternoon, November 13, when a minibus travelling from Golaghat to Nagaon collided head-on with a container truck on National Highway 715 at Rangajan, near the Hathikuli Tea Estate and Kaziranga National Park in Assam’s Golaghat district. The dead include women and minors, and many of those on board were college students returning from classes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced ₹2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for the next of kin of each person killed and ₹50,000 for each of the injured. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said he would reach the site on Saturday morning.

What happened on NH-715

The minibus was heading from Golaghat towards Nagaon with an estimated 45 people on board. Golaghat Superintendent of Police Swapnaneel Deka said the exact number of passengers was not immediately clear, and the first reports spoke of more than 35. The container truck was going the other way, towards Upper Assam.

A dashcam clip of about two seconds shows the minibus speeding towards the truck, losing control and skidding into the opposite lane before the impact, which ends the footage in a flash. Officials say the driver, Abdul Mujid, died in the crash and is among the identified dead.

The toll climbed through the evening. Early accounts spoke of 23 and then 24 dead. Dr Dipam Kumar Barman of Kohora Model Hospital later confirmed that the number of dead had risen to 26. A Golaghat executive magistrate had earlier said the toll was “rising very fast”, and officials warned it could go up further.

The injured and the identified dead

Nine ambulances ferried the injured. They were first taken to Kohora Model Hospital, and those in critical condition were referred to the civil hospitals at Bokakhat and Golaghat and to Jorhat Medical College and Hospital, where twenty patients were sent for advanced treatment. Assam minister Atul Bora, who is also the Bokakhat MLA, and minister Ranoj Pegu went to the spot to oversee rescue and relief.

By late Friday night 14 of the dead had been identified. They include Jyoti Majhi, Darpana Majhi, 12-year-old Anurag Goala, the minibus handyman Subhash, Rashid Ali, Hafiza Khatun, Farhana Yasmin, K R Lobho, Amjad Ali, Bulbul Ali, Baby Karmakar, Damini Ghatowar and Dipanjali Rongphar. Post-mortems are scheduled for Saturday at the Swahid Kushal Konwar Civil Hospital in Golaghat, on the Chief Minister’s instructions.

Speed, fines and an inquiry

Officials say the cause was overspeeding. A senior official said the bus was running at very high speed, violating restrictions imposed near the park, and that the driver is believed to have lost control.

The vehicle’s record is already part of the inquiry. According to officials, the minibus is registered to a Nagaon owner, was fined in Jorhat in March for doing 102 kmph, and has several overspeeding fines in the Kaziranga area, some of them still unpaid. The Golaghat district administration has ordered an inquiry into the speed and into whether the minibus carried more passengers than its permitted seating capacity.

Reactions

Mr Modi, who was on the second day of his Karnataka-Gujarat tour, wrote that he was “deeply anguished by the loss of lives in the mishap in Golaghat district of Assam”, extended his condolences to the bereaved families “in this hour of grief” and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured. The ex gratia was announced from the PMNRF.

President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President C P Radhakrishnan, Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also expressed grief, and Assam Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya prayed for the injured.

Mr Sarma wrote that the loss had shaken everyone and that “All of Assam stands with them in this hour of grief”. He added that the families “are not alone in this difficult hour” and assured full medical support and relief. The reports available late on Friday did not mention any compensation from the Assam government.

What happens next

The Chief Minister is to visit the site on Saturday morning, and the post-mortems at Golaghat civil hospital are due the same day. The district inquiry into speeding and overloading is the first formal step, and its findings will decide what follows for the vehicle’s owner and operation. Families of the dead and injured wait on the PMNRF payment; the Prime Minister’s announcement carries no date for it.

For the injured, the next hours matter most: the critical patients are at Jorhat Medical College and Hospital, and officials have said the toll could still change.