The death toll in Sirhind bus mishap has risen to four with divers retrieving two more bodies from the canal today even as chances of survival of other passengers are "very bleak," police said.
While two bodies were recovered yesterday, two more were taken out from the canal today, Fatehgarh Sahib SSP Gurmeet Singh Chauhan said.
At least 42 passengers were feared drowned after a Punjab roadways bus fell into a canal near Sirhind in Fatehgarh Sahib district of Punjab in the wee hours yesterday.
The ill-fated bus was on its way from Delhi to Amritsar when the mishap took place.
Meanwhile, seven families have approached the police confirming that their near and dear ones were in the bus, SSP said.
Asserting that the chances of survival of those feared drown are "very bleak", he said it is difficult to come to conclusion on the death toll in the mishap.
He said that the current of water is very fast and bodies might have swept upto some places in Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana from where the tributaries of canal passes.
The search operations are continuing and Punjab police had alerted its Haryana and Rajasthan counterparts as well, SSP said.
He said that teams from National Disaster are carrying out search operations at Khanouri in Patiala.
"Water is being screened at Sangrur, Patiala and several areas of Haryana to locate the bodies," he added.
Besides, divers from police, administration and Army are searching bodies at different places.
