Bhubaneswar: A bus carrying Bangladeshi tourists overturned near Uttara on the Bhubaneswar-Puri National Highway at around 3 AM today. A person died on the spot while more than 20 passengers sustained serious injuries.

All the injured were rushed to the Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar. However, tragedy struck again when one of the ambulances carrying the injured collided with the parapet of an overbridge near Shishu Bhavan Square. The passengers in that ambulance reportedly suffered further injuries due to the impact.

According to reports, around 100 pilgrims from Chittagong in Bangladesh had arrived in India on March 17 in two buses. The group included several senior citizens and at least 17 children. After visiting pilgrimage sites including Ayodhya and Dwarka, they were on their way to Puri for the darshan of Lord Jagannath.

The accident occurred when the driver of one of the buses reportedly dozed off while driving, causing the vehicle to veer off the road and fall into a roadside ditch.

Immediately after the mishap, fellow passengers from the other bus, locals, and police personnel launched a rescue operation and helped shift the injured to the hospital. One of the critically injured persons died en route.

Police have started an investigation into the incident.