Tragedy struck a four-member family travelling on a two-wheeler when the mother and one daughter were fatally caught under the wheels of a bus near Kattakada on the city suburbs here on Monday.
Ajayakumar, 40, a senior Civil Police Officer attached to the Poojappura police station and a resident of Kallikkadu, lost his wife, Radhika, 38, and second daughter, Bhavya, 7, after Madhukumar, the driver of a private engineering college, failed to control the bus that he was backing up. The Kattakada police said the accident occurred at 7.50 a.m., when Ajayakumar, Radhika and their daughters Bhadra, 9, and Bhavya, were on their way to Malayinkeezhu.
Madhukumar, who the police said was in an inebriated condition, was trying to negotiate a sharp turn near the Kattakada Treasury when a vehicle from the opposite direction forced him to reverse the bus. He failed to notice the two-wheeler, ridden by Ajayakumar, behind the bus despite autorickshaw drivers and bystanders alerting him. The bike was caught under the rear of the bus, knocking down and dragging all four of its passengers underneath. While Radhika was killed on the spot, Bhavya died on the way to hospital. Ajayakumar and Bhadra, who sustained serious injuries, were shifted to the Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram.
