Kaziranga crash: what the probe has found, and why NH-715 is so deadly

Two days after a minibus and a container truck collided head-on on National Highway 715 near Kaziranga, killing 26 people, investigators have a working picture of what went wrong inside the minibus. Whether the road played a part is now a question for the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

The crash happened on Friday afternoon, November 13, at Rangajan near Hathikuli Tea Estate in the Kohora range of Golaghat district. The Force Traveller was heading west towards Nagaon, the truck east towards Upper Assam. We earlier reported the victims' names and the compensation package.

What the probe has found so far

The speed limiter had been taken out. Golaghat Senior Superintendent of Police Swapnaneel Deka told The Indian Express that the mandatory speed-limiting device had been removed "intentionally by the driver and the owner so that they can make more trips for financial gains". Transport department records still listed the device as installed. According to Hindustan Times, it was set to cap speed at 80 kmph, twice the 40 kmph limit on the Kaziranga stretch. The SSP also told Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma that the brakes were in poor condition.

Transport Minister Charan Boro, who visited the site on Saturday, gave a slightly different account: a device was fitted, and a technical examination will show whether it worked.

It was badly overloaded. Sarma said the minibus was carrying 41 people against a permitted capacity of about 26, and called the overcrowding a criminal violation.

It had a record. Boro said the vehicle had been fined twice for overspeeding and paid both. A third challan, for doing 102 kmph in Jorhat, was still unpaid, and inspectors found one more overspeeding offence. Sarma put the total at 10 earlier challans.

The owner is in custody. Bokakhat police arrested the owner, Anjir Ali, on Saturday night, and a court sent him to two days in police custody, Assamese portal NewzNow reported on Sunday. The driver, Abdul Mujid, 64, and his helper Subhash Das died in the crash.

The driver's health is the open question. Dashcam footage from the truck, which Sarma confirmed is genuine, shows the minibus veering into the truck's lane on a fairly clear road. Sarma said the driver may have suffered a heart attack or stroke, citing Education Minister Ranoj Pegu, a doctor. Specialists are conducting a separate post-mortem, and the viscera of both driver and helper will go to a forensic laboratory in Delhi to check for intoxicants.

Why the NHAI is involved

Boro said NHAI teams from Delhi and Pune were coming to examine the crash. Separately, Assam Pradesh Mahila Congress president Mira Borthakur Goswami wrote to the NHAI chairman seeking an independent technical probe of the road's design, surface, signage, lighting and crash barriers. She also wants a safety audit of all national highways in Assam and published 2026 accident data.

This stretch was already slated for a rebuild, but work has not begun. In October 2025 the Union Cabinet approved four-laning the 85.675 km Kalibor-Numaligarh section of NH-715 at Rs 6,957 crore. The plan includes a 34.45 km elevated corridor so animals can cross between the park and the Karbi Anglong hills, plus bypasses around Jakhalabandha and Bokakhat, according to the Press Information Bureau. The Cabinet note itself described the existing two-lane road as having a narrow right of way of 16 to 32 metres and "substantially poor geometrics", with heavy round-the-clock traffic.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed the bhoomi pujan in January 2026. The first tender was cancelled and NHAI invited fresh bids with a three-year completion period, The Sentinel reported.

How bad Assam's roads are

The Assam Tribune, citing official road safety statistics, counts 3,036 road deaths in 2021 and 3,562 in 2025, and 1,283 in just the first five months of 2026. Centre figures cited by The Times of India put 2025 even higher, near 4,000, and count five major crashes killing 45 people in 2026 so far.

National highways carry a big share of this. The Sentinel, citing ministry data, reported 1,602 deaths on Assam's national highways in 2025. Of 285 accident black spots identified on those highways, only 77 had long-term fixes. Boro said monthly enforcement actions have risen from about 35,000 to 1.35 lakh.

What to watch

The driver's post-mortem and Delhi forensic results will show whether a medical emergency or intoxication was involved. The vehicle's technical inspection will settle what happened to the speed limiter, and the NHAI teams will report on the road itself. Also watch whether NHAI formally awards the Kalibor-Numaligarh contract. Families of the dead are to get Rs 9 lakh each: Rs 5 lakh from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund, Rs 2 lakh from the State Disaster Management Authority and Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund. The injured are to get Rs 50,000 each from the PM's fund.