MTC bus mows down 50-yr-old woman in Chennai

Four others were injured as driver lost control of the vehicle.

The accident spot at Adyar where a MTC bus knocked down a two-wheeler rider. Photo: R. Ragu

A 50-year-old woman was run over and four others were injured when a Metropolitan Transport Corporation bus rammed a bus shelter on Lattice Bridge Road, Adyar, on Thursday evening.

 According to eye-witnesses, the MTC bus – the 47 A (Besant Nagar to ICF) – with registration number TN 01 N 9168 was speeding to the scheduled stop on L.B. Road. It first hit a two-wheeler, throwing down the rider.

“Then the bus driver lost control and the vehicle climbed on to the platform, running over a homeless woman and four others who were waiting for the bus. After hitting the bus shelter, the vehicle came to a halt,” said Pintu Singh, who runs a fast food centre behind the bus stop.

While the identity of the victim is still unknown, the injured have been identified as Abdul Hakim (35), Ezhilarasu (50), Indu (21) and Dinesh Kumar (25).  They were rushed to the Government Royapettah hospital. Bus driver Velmurugan (38) has been arrested.

 The road was strewn with shattered glass pieces. The bus shelter was crushed in the impact. Locals claim that the casualty would have been higher had it been a working day.  “The old woman was trapped under the wheels of the bus. We rescued the injured and sent them in an ambulance to the Government Royapettah Hospital. An autorickshaw would also have been hit, but the driver saw the bus and rode on the platform and escaped,” said Pintu Singh.

A. Ramesh, an autoricksahw driver from a stand on L.B. Road, said bus drivers usually speed up on this stretch to cross the signal which is a few feet away from the stop. “The bus driver did not budge from his seat. There was no emotion on his face at all,” he said.

 Malathy, a doctor at a private hospital, said all that her husband Abdul Hakim remembers is the bus heading towards him. Two of the injured have been shifted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital and one to a private hospital.

During interrogation, the bus driver said he steered to his left to avoid a two-wheeler on the right side. “Rash driving by MTC drivers, especially new recruits, is on the rise now,” said a senior officer.