At least 1,000 chickens crammed into grilled cages in a canter died when the vehicle plunged 25 feet from a flyover near Yeshwantpur junction onto Tumakuru Road on Friday. Only a dozen chicken survived.
Ibrahim, 25, loader in the vehicle, sustained grievous injuries and is said to be in critical condition, while the driver, Shabbir, 44, and cleaner-cum-loader Altaf, 20, sustained minor injuries and are out of danger, the police said. The three men, who hail from Gokak in Belagavi district, were driving from Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh to Shivajinagar, bringing poultry chicken to the city.
The accident occurred around 7 a.m. as the canter was negotiating a curve on the flyover. Shabbir told the police the driver of a vehicle in front of them applied brakes suddenly, and to avoid hitting it, he veered his canter towards the left. As a result, the canter’s front wheel went over the parapet and the vehicle toppled over the flyover, bringing the iron railing down with it.
Fortunately, there were no people or vehicles on the road below at the time, the police said. The spot where the canter landed is used as an autorickshaw stand, but no vehicles were parked there, said a police officer.
The Yeshwantpur traffic police shifted the injured men to a private hospital. A huge crowd had gathered both beneath the flyover and on top, leading to traffic disruption for sometime.
The police cleared the canter using a crane. A case of negligence has been registered against the driver. “The accident was owing to speeding, and we have taken up a case of rash, reckless, and negligent driving against the driver,” an official said.
