A man was run over by a bus and killed instantly near Town Hall here on Saturday around noon.
Velayudhan, 61, son of Karumban, Puthuvanikarthuparambil, Eramalloor, Ezhupunna, was waiting for a bus at the stop in front of the Paramara temple when the accident occurred. A private bus ‘Thanseer,’ on the Thevara-Aluva route, was turning from Paramara Road and approaching the North overbridge. The bus driver tried to overtake from the left a bus that had stopped on the road, lost control of the vehicle, which ran onto the footpath. Eyewitnesses said the bus knocked down the sign board of one of the shops on the roadside and then hit Velayudhan. The vehicle’s rear wheels ran over his body, killing him instantly.
People waiting at the bus stop and shop owners who were in the vehicle’s pathway rushed out of its way to avoid injury. Police immediately arrested the bus driver Ranjith, 29, of Kalamassery. He has been charged with causing death by negligence. The bus was also seized by the police. Velayudhan’s body has been kept at the mortuary of the Ernakulam General Hospital.
Saturday’s accident is the latest in the city involving speeding private buses. In September this year, a speeding private bus rammed into six pedestrians near Thodupuzha. A woman was killed when a bus hit her and her sister when they were standing near Foreshore Road here in August. Following a spate of such accidents, the High Court of Kerala had recently directed the police to curb careless overtaking by private buses in the city.
