Bantwal: Ambulance turns turtle due to drunken driving, three injured

Daijiworld Media Network – Bantwal (SP)

Bantwal, Jun 15: An ambulance carrying a patient to a hospital in Mangalore rolled down the road at Budoli Bridge near Mani in the taluk on Friday June 14 evening. The occupants of the car said that drunken driving had caused the accident, and the driver had not heeded their repeated pleas to slow down.

Zubaida Banu from Hassan, who was in a serious condition, was being brought to Mangalore for advanced healthcare. The ambulance had two drivers, Ganesh (28) and Nagaraj (23), both from Hassan, to enable them to drive the ambulance by turns. At Gundia, both the drivers reportedly consumed liquor, and thereafter started driving the vehicle erratically.

When those escorting the patient grew apprehensive about reckless driving, they requested the driver to slow down. Angered by their request, the driver increased the speed of the vehicle. Unable to negotiate Budoli Bridge near Mani village located at a sharp bend at that speed, the vehicle rolled down and overturned. Zubaida Banu (65), her husband, Amir Jan (69), and their daughter, Kausar, were injured.

The injured were rushed to Mangalore in an ambulance from Bantwal. The drunkard drivers were handed over by the people to Vittal police station, where investigation has been taken up.