At least two persons were killed and over 30 were injured when a bus travelling from Calcutta to Agra and other destinations collided with a speeding truck on National Highway 2, also known as the Grand Trunk Road, in Kaimur district of Bihar on Monday.

The incident occurred near Chilbili under Kudra police station around 7am.

The vehicle had stopped for morning tea and snacks at a dhaba on the highway and the mishap happened soon after it started from there.

“We had started from Dakshineshwar in Calcutta on Sunday morning to visit different places. We were moving towards Agra in Uttar Pradesh. There were 55 people in total and suddenly we felt a terrible jerk just two minutes after starting from the dhaba and realised that we had met with an accident,” said Anita Das, a passenger.

The driver of the bus died on the spot as the place where he sat was completely crushed.

The local people rushed to rescue the injured passengers as their cries rent the air. Many had suffered serious injuries.

The police and the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) officials also arrived at the place of occurrence.

“We sent the injured to the primary health centre (PHC) at Kudra from where 14 were referred to the district hospital at Bhabhua. Apart from the driver, one more injured person succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. The district administration is taking care of the injured,” Kudra station house officer (SHO) Sanjay Kumar told The Telegraph.

Kumar added that the bus, after halting at the dhaba, was moving in the wrong lane in an attempt to take an opening between the road dividers that lay ahead and go to the correct lane for its onward journey.

“It seems the truck, though in the right lane, was travelling at a high speed and hit the bus head-on. The place of occurrence is hardly 300 metres from the dhaba,” Kumar said.

The SHO deployed a couple of officials to look after the security of the luggage of the passengers.

The police were also in the process of registering two FIRs — one against the truck driver for rash driving and another against the bus driver (now deceased) and operators for their negligence.

The bus belongs to Gopaal tour and travel company. The NHAI officials moved the two damaged vehicles and cleared the road for traffic.