7 drown as bus plunges into river

While 20 persons swam to safety and were shifted to hospitals,the rescuers,including Naval divers from Kochi,were still searching in Mennachal river at Thazhathangadi to ascertain if more bodies were trapped in the slush,police said.

The bus,a portion of which got stuck in the muddy river-bed,was lifted out after five hours of hard toil using six cranes,but nobody was found trapped inside the vehicle,as feared initially.

The bus was coming from Cherthala in Alappuzha district to Kottayam along the rural route when it fell into the river after hitting an electric post.

Some of the survivors said the bus had about 35 to 40 persons when the accident occurred.

However,it was difficult to say exactly how many passengers were in the bus at the time of the accident as the conductor was among those who met with the watery grave.

Last year,a boat had capsized at Thekkady lake claiming 45 lives. In 2002,in Kumarakom,which is close to the spot of Tuesdays tragedy,29 people had died in a boat capsize.