The death toll in the Saturday’s minibus accident in Howrah rose to 12, with two of the injured, including a six-month-old baby, succumbing to their injuries.

Nine persons were killed on the spot when a minibus plying on the Sankrail-Howrah route skidded off the Bankim Setu and crashed down onto the tracks of Howrah station on Saturday.

A family in Entally lost three of its members — Pradip Das (27), his 22-year-old wife Suparna and six-month-old daughter Pooja. The bodies were handed over to the family after postmortem.

Pradip’s mother Rajani said that the three were returning from Andul in Howrah district after attending a marriage ceremony. “Pradip was our only breadwinner. My son was married only one-and-a-half years ago. My life is finished. I have nothing to look forward to,” Rajani said.

Neighbours said Pradip, who resided with his family in a one-room tenement on Dr Suresh Sarkar Road, used to work in a nearby footwear factory.

On Sunday, state IT minister Debesh Das paid a visit to the family’s home. He is the only Left Front minister who visited the Das household.

“I went to Entally as it comes under my constituency (Taltala). I can’t comment on ex-gratia as it doesn’t fall under my responsibilities as IT minister. I express my heartfelt condolences to all the victims. I have heard that under a KMC scheme, the family will get some assistance. The accident occurred because the minibus was going at a high speed and tried to overtake another bus,” Das said.

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