Mangalore: Bus Skids off Road - 40 Injured, Students miss SSLC Exams

Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje and Shekhar Ajekar
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Mar 30: The 'Mother India' service bus plying between Iruvail and Moodbidri veered off the road about 1.5 kms from Iruvail at around 8.10 am on Monday March 30 and tumbled down a roadside pit.  Almost all the passengers in the bus were injured in the accident, but most of them escaped with minor nics and cuts. Nearly 40 students, who were bound for their SSLC examination centre in Moodbidri  for the first day's examination, were hurt. While about 30 of them were provided treatment and allowed to proceed to attend their examinations, around ten students whose injuries are of serious nature, could not attend the examination. Seven to eight people, who have suffered multiple injuries and who require advanced treatment for the injuries suffered to their faces, heads etc., have been referred to hospitals in the city.

Miraculously, the bus came to a standstill after barging into the roadside pit at great speed. If it had turned turtle, possibility of which was near certainty considering the gravity of the accident, several lives would have been lost. It is thought, that about 80 to 85 passengers, most of them standing, were travelling in the bus when the accident occurred. The spot of the accident is located on a steep road curve.

The driver of the bus also has sustained injuries and is being treated at Alva's hospital here. If what the eye witnesses say are to be believed, the bus was being rashly driven, although there is no concrete evidence about what could have been the real reason for the accident. The bus was brimming with passengers, both because people were returning to the city after spending time at their native places during the week end that coincided with Ugadi celebrations, and also that students from several villages were to appear for their SSLC examination in Moodbidri centre.

All the injured were treated in Alva's and G V Pai Hospital in Moodbidri.  Alva's hospital staff, G V Pai Hospital staff, policemen, education office personal, local MLA Abhaychandra Jain, BJP leader Jagadish Adhikari, zilla panchayat president K P Sucharita Shetty etc., got fully involved with relief activities and ensuring that the students attended their examinations as far as possible. All the concerned departments have geared up to the task of providing relief to the victims of the accident.

Raghuvir Shenoy, trustee of a local school and rickshaw owner, selflessly helped the injured to be shifted to hospital and also to take the students to  their examination centre.

District level education officers also visited the spot and the examination centres and ensured that the injured students were facilitated to appear for the examination in spite of the accident, injuries and consequent delay involved in reaching the centre.