Daijiworld Media Network - Puttur (SP)

Puttur, May 12: In a freak accident which occurred at Kolpe within Alantaya village near Nelyady in the taluk, a bus passenger died when the bus driver tried to avoid hitting a truck coming from the opposite direction. The accident occurred at around 4 am on Monday May 11.

A Volvo bus of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation bound for Udupi from Mysuru via Puttur, Nelyady and Dharmasthala. When the bus was moving through Kolpe, the bus driver suddenly swerved his vehicle to extreme left, to avoid hitting a truck that came perilously close from the opposite direction. The bus jumped over the side of the road into the drain, and hit a bamboo grove. In this accident, Dhanalaxmi (45) from Mysuru died on the spot.

Dhanalaxmi and Padmashree (40), both from Kuvempunagar in Mysuru were travelling by this bus to get naturopathy treatment at Ujire. Bamboo stems brushed Dhanalaxmi, who was sitting on the adjacent to the window, hard and she died of injuries suffered in the head. Her body was entangled among the bamboo groves, and it took about an hour to retrieve it.

Bus driver, Sharanappa, conductor, Shekhappa Agadi, and passengers from Mysuru, Prasad and Shylaja couple, stand admitted into the hospital here. Other passengers, Padmashree, Yashwant, and Roopa, all from Mysuru, and Ujwal from Chikkamagaluru, were admitted into a hospital in Mangaluru. The bus was carrying 45 people including driver and conductor.

It is learnt that heavy rain had impaired visibility of the driver at the time of the accident. As the bus was at high speed at the time, its wheels plowed through the drain for about 100 metres before leaning onto one side and coming to a stop after hitting the bamboo grove.

Young people from Kolpe rushed to the spot to help the passengers and succeeded in bringing out all the trapped people from inside the bus. The injured were transported with the help of several 108 ambulances. Puttur rural police circle inspector, Anil Kulkarni, and traffic sub-inspector, Nagaraj, as well as policemen from Nelyady outpost visited the spot. The bus was later taken out of the spot with the help of a crane.