Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (MM/NR)
Pics: Durga Digitals

Udupi, Aug 25: It seems there is no respite from bottle-necks on the National Highway in Udupi district. Of late traffic jams owing to accidents caused by vehicles have become a common occurrence on these roads.  The heavily damaged roads, is one of the major factors responsible for causing road accidents at this site.

Traffic was badly affected at Tenka Ermal on Friday, August 24 owing to the accident of a lorry, which was plying from Kundapur to Mangalore. The lorry was carrying timber and household goods belonging to an old house.

The mishap occurred, when due to the heavily damaged roads, the driver lost total control of his vehicle. This resulted in the lorry rolling down the road. The accident also caused a lot of inconvenience to other vehicles, and the traffic along the route too was badly affected here, till noon.

In another accident, a lorry collided with a tanker at Bada Ermal on Friday. Owing to the impact, the chemical naphta (white coloured petrol) from the tanker spilled all over the road. This was also owing to a leakage found in the tanker. From the roads the naphta started flowing down into the drainage, causing a lot of panic among the locals, who were terrified at the ghastly sight. The spilled naphta on the road, also resulted in fires in some places at the accident site which could have soon spiraled out of control, if not doused.

Immediately fire fighters were called and pressed into service, they in fact rushed to the accident spot, sprayed some chemicals to weaken the naphta. It however took about 40 minutes for the fire brigade team to reach the spot, owing to the bad condition of the roads.