COIMBATORE: As many as 20 passengers on board an Ernakulam-bound Kerala Road Transport Corporation bus died on the spot and another 28 were injured when the bus collided head-on with a speeding overloaded container lorry coming in the wrong lane in the opposite direction early on Thursday.
The accident happened at Thirumuruganpoondi in Tirupur district on the Avinashi-Salem bypass at around 3.25 am, according to police.
Among the dead are the KSRTC bus driver V. Grees, 43, of Ernakulam and conductor R. Baiju, of Veligandi in Kerala and five women.
A. Hemaraj, 38, from Ottapalam in Kerala, the lorry driver who fled the accident scene, was detained by police. The post-mortem of the 20 deceased was carried out at Government Hospital in Avinashi and bodies of the five women and 13 men were handed over to families. Among the dead, Kirankumar, 30, from Tumkur is from Karn-ataka, while others are from Kerala. Of the 28 injured passengers, those who suffered minor injuries were treated as outpatients while the ones with serious injuries are being treated at government hospitals and private hospitals in Avinashi, Tirupur and Coimbatore.
Police said the bus number KL 15 A 282 Bengaluru-Ernakulam KSRTC bus left Bengaluru at 8. 15 pm with 48 passengers on board. The reservation chart of the bus shows that a majority of 25 passengers were travelling to Ernakulam while 19 had booked tickets for Thrissur and another four had booked tickets for Palakkad.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the state will bear the treatment expenses of the injured.
