Some of the surviving passengers of the bus claimed that the driver was talking on his mobile phone when the mishap took place

Bhubaneswar: At least 19 people were killed and 43 injured, many of them critically, when the bus they were travelling in fell 40 feet off a bridge in Odisha's Angul district yesterday.

"So far, 19 persons have lost their lives in the incident. While 16 persons died at Athamallik, including 14 on the spot, three others succumbed during treatment at the district headquarters hospital at Angul," said Dr Bidyadhar Sahu, Chief District Medical Officer, Angul.

He said of the 43 injured admitted at the district headquarters hospital at Angul, three died while 23 others were shifted to SCB Medical College Hospital and four of the critically injured persons were airlifted to Cuttack.

Some of the surviving passengers claimed that the driver was talking on his mobile phone when the mishap took place even as state Transport Minister Ramesh Majhi has ordered a probe the matter. The death toll is likely to go up as the condition of some of the injured is stated to be critical, officials said.

Expressing grief and shock over the mishap, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced free medical treatment and ex-gratia of R2 lakh each for the next of the kin of those killed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the deaths on Twitter.