By IANS,
Patna : At least 16 people were killed and over a dozen injured when a speeding bus ploughed into a crowd of people watching a Hindi movie on television by a roadside in Bihar, police said Thursday.
The accident occurred late Wednesday in Chandaspur village in Bathnaha block in Sitamarhi district, about 160 km from here, District Magistrate Vijay Kumar said.
Twelve people were crushed to death on the spot and four succumbed to their injuries in a government hospital in the neighbouring district of Muzaffarpur, police said. The bus driver and conductor fled the spot.
Kumar said that 11 seriously injured people had been taken to a government hospital in Muzaffarpur district. About six other injured were admitted in a private nursing home in Sitamarhi.
After hundreds of villagers blocked roads and demanded compensation, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced that Rs.150,000 would be given to the families of each of the victims.