In Hazira, Gujarat, a dumper struck a public bus this morning, killing one person and injuring more than 25 of the 50 people on board.

There was mayhem at the accident scene as a consequence of the bus and dumper overturning due to the force of the collision. Locals hurried to the site of the accident to help free the bus’s trapped occupants.

Eight 108 ambulances and a number of private ambulances were sent by emergency personnel to take the wounded to the closest hospital so they could get medical care.

Following notification, a group of local police officers quickly arrived on the site and cleared the traffic jams produced by the collision.

A thorough inquiry into the occurrence has been launched by the authorities, and the deceased’s corpse has been submitted for a post-mortem.

Hazira, a significant port and industrial town close to Surat, is renowned for its strategic economic importance.

Large corporations that specialize in steel manufacturing, petrochemicals, power generation, and shipbuilding, including Essar Steel (AMNS), ONGC, Kribhco, Shell, and Larsen & Toubro (L&T), are based there.

There were 15,751 traffic accidents in the state in 2022, up from 15,186 in 2021. Overspeeding was shown to be the main cause of these occurrences, which led to nearly 7,000 deaths in 2022.

In Gujarat, traffic accidents claimed 21 lives per day on average between 2020 and 2023.

The number of deaths increased by 18%, from 6,281 in 2020–21 to 7,656 in 2022–23. The state had 11,678 traffic incidents in July 2023 alone, with an average of almost 18 casualties every hour.

The data on injuries are particularly concerning. Gujarat registered 92,983 traffic accident injury cases in the first seven months of 2024, or almost 18 injuries every hour on average. At 15,489 incidences throughout this time, Ahmedabad recorded the most injury cases.