Vijayawada: For the 20-odd passengers of an APSRTC bus bound for Vijayawada on Monday, G. Pamulu will forever remain a real-life hero who saved their lives while he himself died.
By all accounts, Pamulu, 35, drew his last reserves of strength and mental acumen, and saved passengers’ lives even as he breathed his last, at Ramannagudem of Nuziveedu mandal on Monday.
Pamulu managed to hit the brakes of the bus that was speeding along at about 11.40 am, just in time to stop a tragedy.
Applying the brakes in time, he managed to slow down the bus to the extent that when it hit a tree, the impact was minimal and no passenger was injured.
The passengers, blissfully ignorant about the condition of the driver till that point of time, rushed to his seat to ask him the reason why the bus veered off the road, only to see him slumped over the steering wheel.
Nuzveedu rural sub-inspector G. Srihari Babu said that the Governorpet-Vijayawada bound bus was heading towards Vijayawada from Nuzveedu bus station. The incident took place when the bus reached Ramannagudem. The lady conductor and the passengers tried to revive Pamulu, but he had already passed away by then.
“Only after the post-mortem can we know the exact cause of death. He might have died of a heart attack,” Babu said.
APSRTC deputy chief traffic manager G. Nagendra Prasad said that the driver was working with RTC since 2012, as a contract employee. Pamulu hailed from Nunna and is survived by his wife and two children.
