Eight persons were killed and more than six seriously injured in a head-on collision between a passenger vehicle and a truck near Marinayakanahalli in Chintamani taluk of Chickballapur district on Sunday.
According to the police, the overcrowded passenger vehicle, carrying 17 people, including two children, was heading towards Chintamani from Rayalpaadu in Srinivasapura taluk.
“While approaching Marinayakanahalli, the vehicle collided with the truck, which was heading to Bengaluru. The truck driver was coming from Andhra Pradesh,” said the police.
Eyewitnesses said that owing to the impact, the vehicle was tossed in the air. Six passengers — two of whom were women — were killed instantaneously. Senior police officers visited the spot and shifted the injured to Chintamani and Kolar hospitals. However, two more passengers later succumbed to their injuries.
Fortunately, the two children inside the vehicle survived the accident, and are said to be recovering in the hospital, according to the local police. “The accident has been attributed to overspeeding by the truck driver, and the rash and negligent driving by the vehicle driver, who is among the deceased,” said a police officer.
The police have taken up cases of rash and negligent driving and death due to negligence against the truck driver who has been taken into custody.
