Udupi: Multiple, Serial Accidents at Muloor keep Policemen on Tenterhooks
Pics: Durga Ditials
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)
Udupi, May 9: The stretch of the national highway 17 from Padubidri to Muloor in the district witnessed a number of accidents in the morning of Saturday May 9, that started occurring immediately after the first major rain in the region started to soak the region. In five accidents which occurred near Muloor near Padubidri, over 30 people were injured. The nature of injuries varies, and many of them have been grievously injured. Depending on the gravity of injuries, they have been admitted into different hospitals in the district.
In a car-motor bike collision that occurred near Bobbaryanakatte of Muloor today, the bike rider sustained grave injuries. Four persons travelling in the car too were injured in the accident. In another accident that took place opposite Narayanaguru Sabha Bhavan in Muloor, a car and bus were involved in a collision. In this accident, two occupants of the car sustained serious injuries.
In front of Koppalangady Community Hall, over ten passengers suffered injuries of different degrees, after the private bus in which they were travelling, skidded and tumbled. Two iron ore transportation trucks coming from opposite directions also got involved with a head-on collision, as drivers of both these trucks were looking at the accident scene rather than the road ahead. Both the drivers have sustained serious injuries in the accident. A car following one of the ore trucks closely from behind, struck the truck from behind at great spead, injuring those travelling in it. The Omni was badly mangled in the accident.
The five accidents that occurred within a stretch of one kilometre at Muloor near Padubidri threw the traffic on the highway out of gear. The movement of vehicles remained paralyzed due to the spate of accidents for about four hours, right from the morning. The policemen from Kaup police station worked hard to restore normalcy.
A local social worker, supported by an army of local people, helped the policemen in restoring some order in the traffic. The traffic woes were complicated by the fact that express buses and other buses move on this road with a few seconds separating them, along with so many tourist vehicles that are moving about in the holiday season and the vehicles carrying people to auspicious occasions, who were afraid they would be late.
In addition to the above, there have been scores of minor accidents. The accident toll at the first heavy rain of the season has made the people highly apprehensive. Several local people argued, that the oil being spilled by the trucks carrying fish, gets stored on the roads and at the first rain, vehicles travelling on the greesy mixture caused by oil and water, skid, thereby posing the vehicles and the lives of the inmates to grave danger.