A woman was killed and over a dozen were injured as a speeding bus heading to Ranchi from Calcutta overturned sideways and hit the crash guard on the Jamshedpur-Ranchi stretch of the NH-33 on Monday.

According to Tamar police station OC, Deepak Kumar, the mishap took place around 6am at the Ichadih area, around 57km from Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi.

“We got information from the nearby residents and rushed to the spot and tried to rescue the passengers and send them to nearby community health centre at Tamar and sub-divisional hospital at Bundu. Over 13 passengers who were critically injured have been referred to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) Ranchi for better treatment. As per statements, the driver was speeding and escaped after the mishap. However, we are investigating into the cause of the mishap,” said Deepak Kumar.

A 40-year-old woman identified as Jaroon Bibi, a native of Sisai in Gumla district died on the spot because of the impact of the mishap and had to be taken out from the bus after two hours by cutting the bus iron grills using gas cutters.

As the bus turned sideways on the road it led to blocking of the NH-33 disrupting traffic for over two hours before the road was cleared by removing the bus using cranes.

The bus had left Calcutta in the evening.