Twenty-six people died and 20 were hurt when a minibus and a container truck crashed head-on near Kaziranga National Park in Assam on Friday 13 November. Many of the dead were college students on their way home from classes.
Updated: 14 November 2026, 10:00 IST
Quick Read
- 26 people died and 20 were injured in a head-on crash at Rangajan, near Hathikuli Tea Estate in the Kohora range, on National Highway 715 in Golaghat district, around noon on Friday 13 November.
- The minibus was travelling from Golaghat to Nagaon with about 45 people on board. Dashcam video shows it crossing into the truck’s lane before the crash.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Rs 2 lakh for each family that lost someone and Rs 50,000 for each injured person, from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund.
What happened at Rangajan
The crash took place at Rangajan, near Hathikuli Tea Estate in the Kohora range, on National Highway 715. The minibus, a Force Traveller with registration number AS 02AC 6690, had started from Bokakhat and was going from Golaghat towards Nagaon. The container truck, registration number KA 01AT 0977, was going from Tezpur towards Dibrugarh, in the other direction. The two vehicles hit each other head-on.
About 45 people were on the minibus, officials said. The exact count is still being checked, because the bus was crowded. Many of those on board were college students returning from their classes. Women and minors were among the dead.
Dashcam video from the truck has now come out in public. It shows the minibus coming at high speed and crossing into the truck’s lane before the crash. A senior official told news agency PTI that the bus was running at very high speed and breaking the speed rules in force near the park, and that the driver seemed to have lost control.
The same minibus had been fined before for speeding. It was fined Rs 4,000 in Jorhat on 3 March this year for driving at 102 kmph. The vehicle is registered in the name of Anjir Ali of Nagaon, officials said.
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Why the death count kept rising
The death count rose through Friday. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma first put the number at 24. Then more of the injured died in hospital, and a senior doctor at Kohora Model Hospital, Dipam Kumar Barman, confirmed the count had gone up to 26. “The total number of dead in the accident has increased to 26. Ambulances have taken the people to different hospitals, and we are collecting the data from them,” he said.
The count may still rise. Some of the 20 injured are in a serious state, and officials have said so in plain words. Postmortems will be done on Saturday at Swahid Kushal Konwar Civil Hospital in Golaghat, on the Chief Minister’s instruction. The Chief Minister is due to visit the crash site on Saturday, and minister Ranoj Pegu is visiting as well.
A high-level inquiry has been ordered into the crash. The Railways’ Northeast Frontier unit is also looking into it, Zee reported. Police are studying the dashcam video as part of the probe.
The students who were coming home
The hardest part of this crash is who died. Many of the dead were young people on their way back from college. They had finished classes and were going home when the bus met the truck on the highway.
So far 14 of the dead have been named. They include two sisters, Jyoti Majhi, 19, and Darpana Majhi, 15. Anurag Goala, a 12-year-old boy, is also among the dead. The minibus driver, Abdul Mujid, died too, along with the handyman, Subhash. Rashid Ali is also among the 14 named so far. Work to name the rest is still going on, and the hospitals are matching names with the injured.
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Help for the families
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced help from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund: Rs 2 lakh for the family of each person who died, and Rs 50,000 for each person who was injured. The relief fund is the money the Prime Minister’s office uses to help families after a disaster.
President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President C. P. Radhakrishnan and Home Minister Amit Shah have all condoled the deaths. Condolence means they shared their grief with the families in public words.
For the families, the help is only a start. The injured are spread across hospitals in the area, and the postmortems on Saturday will let families take the bodies home.
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FAQ
How many people died in the Kaziranga crash?
26 people died and 20 were injured. The count first stood at 24, then rose to 26 as injured people died in hospital. Officials have said the toll may rise further.
What caused the crash?
The full cause is not yet confirmed. Dashcam video shows the minibus crossing into the truck’s lane at high speed. Officials say the bus was speeding and breaking park-area rules. A high-level inquiry has been ordered.
Who were the victims?
Many were college students returning from classes. Women and minors were among the dead. 14 have been named so far, including sisters Jyoti Majhi, 19, and Darpana Majhi, 15, and 12-year-old Anurag Goala.
Desk-original added context
Our own what-happened table, from the reports read today:
| When | Friday 13 November 2026, around noon |
| Where | Rangajan, near Hathikuli Tea Estate, Kohora range, NH-715, Golaghat, Assam |
| Minibus | Force Traveller AS 02AC 6690, Bokakhat to Nagaon via Golaghat, about 45 on board |
| Truck | Container truck KA 01AT 0977, Tezpur to Dibrugarh |
| Dead | 26 (first count 24, then 26) |
| Injured | 20 |
| Help announced | Rs 2 lakh per death, Rs 50,000 per injured person (PMNRF) |
Our own count: 26 dead out of about 45 people on the minibus means more than half the people on board died. That is why the toll rose so fast through the day. Our own timeline of the toll: Friday afternoon, the Chief Minister said 24; later on Friday, the hospital doctor confirmed 26. And one fact that stands out: the same minibus was fined Rs 4,000 on 3 March this year for driving at 102 kmph, about eight months before this crash.
Sources
- The Telegraph — Assam crash near Kaziranga kills several as minibus collides head-on with container truck (13 Nov 2026; page loads — verified via search, curl returned 403 bot-block; primary source)
- Rediff (PTI) — Students among 23 killed in bus-truck collision in Assam, toll may rise (14 Nov 2026, 200 verified; headline still says 23, body says 26 — this post uses 26)
- India Today NE — Kaziranga Accident: 26 dead, 20 injured; dashcam footage shows minibus crossing into truck’s lane in Assam (14 Nov 2026, 200 verified; dashcam, 14 identified)
Sasanka Sekhar Pradhan is the founder of India Presents, an India-focused news site. He covers daily box-office trackers, India news, economy explainers, sports previews and festival guides — in simple English, so readers across India can follow fast-moving stories without jargon. His focus is what a story means for the reader: the number that matters, the source behind it, and what happens next. India Presents publishes daily, with day-trackers updated as new figures come in.
