Volvo mishap leaves 5 dead

Bangalore: Five people, including a pregnant wo­m­an and a six-year-old boy, died after a Volvo multi-axle bus belonging to Rajesh Travels skidded and fell on its side. The bus was returning to the city from Nellore in And­hra Pradesh. Four died on the spot, while another is at a hospital.

The incident occurred on National Highway 4, Hosk­ote Main Road, near the Dand­upalya Cr­oss opposite MVJ Hos­pital and Medi­cal College around 5.30am on Monday.

The deceased have been identified as Manas Ku­mar (6), a resident of Eji­pura, Anusha, a pregnant woman (24) of Nellore, Vijay Kumar (37), a software engineer residing in KR Puram, Pradeep (30) of Nellore and Pra­sad Chinnam (28), a tec­hie from Andhra Prad­esh. Pradeep died at the hospital, the police said.

There were 52 passengers of whom 30 were injured. The condition of 10 passengers is said to be critical. All the inj­ured have been admitted to MVJ Hospital in Dan­dupalya village and other hospitals in Bangalore. Deceased Vijay Kumar’s wife Padmaja is battling for life, while their children Akshay and Vihaan, sustained minor inju­ries, the police said.

Around 5.30 am, the bus driver, Venkatappa, lost control of the vehicle while trying to avoid a pedestrian who appeared in front of the bus suddenly. It is said that the pedestrian was walking on the opposite lane, but was chased by a pack of stray dogs. He ran to the other side of the road for safety, but landed in front of the bus.

Venkatappa, trying to avoid the pedestrian, swe­rved hard to the left and the bus fell on its side. The bus skidded ac­r­oss the highway for over 100 metres before coming to a stop on the service lane.
Passengers were thro­wn off their seats and fell on each other. Four passengers, including the pregnant woman and the boy, died on the spot, the police said.

“The impact of the accident was such that limbs of some of the passengers were cut and lying on the road. The luggage of passengers was strewn all over at the accident spot. As the bus fell to its left, we could not use the doors to get out. Some local residents rushed to our rescue, broke open the windshields and pulled us out. Luckily the bus did not catch fire. Some of the valuables, including laptops, were stolen,” an injured passenger said.

Transport Minister Ra­m­alinga Reddy, IGP Syed Ulfath Hussain and other senior police officers visited the spot. Some of the injured passengers have been identified as Laks­hmi, Satish, C.B. Rama­namma, Roshan Babu, D. Lakshmi, Man­ohar, Rajs­hekar Reddy, Shiv­apra­sad, T.S. Sathish Kumar, Krishna, Rajesh, Souja­nya, Koushik Red­dy, Prit­hvi, Sindhu, Ak­shaya, Athi, Srikanth, Srin­ivas, drivers Koda­ndarama and Venkatappa.