Kundapur: 11 From Bhatkal Perish in Road Accident at Byndoor
Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (SP)
Kundapur, Nov 20: In a major road accident between a private bus and Tata Sumo vehicle that occurred on national highway 17 at Nandanavana near Uppunda, Byndoor, at around 9.15 pm on Thursday November 19, 11 persons including seven women, died.
A group of neigbourers was returning to Bhatkal, their native place, after visiting Mangalore for health check up, when tragedy struck. All the 11 persons including the driver, who were travelling in the Sumo, lost their lives. Nine were killed on the spot, while two others died on way to the hospital. The deceased hailed from Madina Colony, Mushma Street and Azad Nagar in Bhatkal.
The ill-fated vehicle belonged to Abdul Ghani Arman from Bhatkal. Jaffer, driver of the vehicle, used to take people from Bhatkal for medical treatment and check up to Mangalore, often.
It is said that the Sumo driver tried to avoid colliding with a truck in front of the vehicle, the driver of which had applied brakes suddenly, after seeing a cow crossing the road. As the vehicle swerved to the right, it hit a private bus, going to Bangalore, coming from the opposite direction. Both the vehicles were moving at great speed, and pitch darkness at the spot hampered relief operations.
The deceased have been identified as Hafiz, Mouleem, Mohammed Altaf Siddque, Taousif, Babu alias Jamir Jaffer Shaikh (driver), Salma, Bibi Shahida, ayesha, Shabana, Sharika, Uzma and Gazia. Tata Sumo turned into a mess of mangled steel in the accident, and the concerned had to struggle a lot to retrieve the bodies of the victims. Traffic on the national highway was blocked for sometime due to the accident.