Silvester D' Souza

Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (EP)

Kundapur, Jun 16: A private bus speeding from Kundapur lost control of the driver at Kota national highway 66 and toppled above the underpass on Thursday morning, June 16 causing traffic jam for some time. 45 passengers in the bus, driver and conductor miraculously escaped with minor injuries.

The bus driver, driving the bus carelessly and too fast, was trying to overtake a lorry when the incident occurred. It was raining heavily and water was flowing on the road. The bus hit the side concrete barricade before toppling on the road. Though the driver applied brakes, the bus did not stop immediately as there was water on the road, it is said. There were 34 women passengers in the bus.

Major mishap averted

The national highway authority has constructed a strong concrete wall barricade. Therefore the bus hit the barricade without falling down from the top of the underpass after it toppled. If it had fallen down, it would have fallen on the vehicles passing on service road causing loss of many lives.

The toppled bus hindered traffic for more than an hour. Kota sub-inspector (SI) Kabbalraj and staff arrived at the place of the accident within a few minutes and made way for traffic on service road. The SI got the bus lifted with the help of crane with highway workers and cleared the traffic.

Zilla panchayat member Raghavendra Kanchan, social activist Keshava Koteshwara, Kota panchayat's Thimma Poojary and Saligrama town panchayat member Bhoja Poojary visited the place and extended their help.