Tirunelveli/Thiruvananthapuram: Nine people, including five Keralites, were killed and around 33 were injured when a Volvo bus travelling from Pondicherry to Thiruvananthapuram capsized at Tirunelveli after the driver dozed off early on Friday. The speeding bus dashed against the central median around 5 a.m. on the Madurai-Thiruvananthapuram national highway...
The speeding bus dashed against the central median around 5 a.m. on the Madurai-Thiruvananthapuram national highway at Pilakottai village near Panagudi, and crashed throwing many passengers out of the vehicle. The group was on a pilgrimage to Velankanni and was returning via Karakkal. The deceased Keralites were identified as Sujin, 6, son of Leo of Kochuthura near Poovar; Vinod, 30, and his wife Ancy, 27, from Valiyathura; Meri Liza, 35, and her daughter Altroy, 2, from Mudackal, Kollam. The Tamil Nadu natives killed are Edwin Nikhil George, 32, from Palappallam and Jimmy, 33, from Thutur in Kanyakumari district. Two of the victims Anjali, 19, and Anjilo, 28, siblings, hailed from Gujarat. Thirty-three persons, including bus driver, John Bosco, 49, of Nagapattinam and bus conductor Thangadurai of Thiruvarur, were injured seriously and are undergoing treatment at hospitals in Nagercoil. Twenty of the injured are Keralites.
The victims were taken to Asari Pallam Medical College, Kanyakumari, some 45 minutes after the mishap. “Since the mishap occurred in a vacant spot adjacent to a field, help reached late. The driver said that he was asleep when the mishap happened,” police officials said. One of the bodies was split into half and some of the victims had to be amputated. Tirunelveli district collector Dr M. Karunakaran, Tirunelveli range DIG Anbu and Tirunelveli district police superintendent Vikraman rushed to the spot and monitored the rescue operations. The bus was reported to have been overloaded as some of the passengers were seated on the engine and on the seat allotted to the conductor to sleep.
