Twenty eight passengers had a providential escape when the bus they were travelling in veered away into fields next to the road on NH 44 in Anantapur district.
A Garuda Plus service of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC), a Mercedes Benz with registration no AP29 Z 3200, bound to Hyderabad, left Bangalore at around 9 p.m. on Saturday with 28 passengers.
At around 1 a.m. when the bus was near Kanaganapalli crossroads on NH 44, it suddenly veered off the highway into the fields next to it, falling over its side.
While none of the passengers suffered grievous injuries, almost everyone sustained minor bruises, APSRTC officials said. They also said the driver had informed them about the steering wheel getting stuck all of a sudden, preventing him from taking any action.
Meanwhile, the APSRTC authorities said that all passengers were accommodated in two luxury services of the corporation bound to Hyderabad within an hour.
Staff Reporter adds: Meanwhile, Regional Manager (Ranga Reddy) C. Vinod and Deputy Chief Mechanical Engineer C. Venkanna, who rushed to Anantapur have after an inspection of the vehicle, certified that the vehicle was in perfect shape.
When asked about the driver’s complain, Mr. Vinod said that there was no evidence to corroborate his version.
“We had the bus towed to Anantapur from the accident spot as there was a problem with the clutch after the accident. We will conduct a detailed inquiry and also question the driver about it,” he said.
The ultra luxury vehicle was trying to overtake a lorry from left when the lorry driver also swerved left, forcing the RTC bus driver to veer further left, resulting in the accident.
“Once the lorry forged ahead, the bus driver took evasive action again, cutting to the right very sharply and given the speed, the bus bumped over the road divided, got onto the opposite lane and came to a halt in a roadside ditch,” said Mr. Vinod.
