Three people were killed on the spot and 10 others sustained injuries after a private bus rammed into a lorry laden with soaps, near Oorukere, in Tumakuru on Sunday.
This is the second accident in less than a week involving private buses. Last Wednesday, five people were killed when a private bus turned turtle near Jetti Agrahara in Koratagere taluk.
According to the police, in the latest accident, the bus driver tried to overtake the Kerala-bound lorry on NH-48 around 6.30 a.m. It was a sleeper coach that was headed to Bengaluru from Belagavi.
“The driver lost control of the wheel and rammed into the 12-wheel heavy truck,” said the police, who have identified two of the deceased as Ramappa Yereballi, 45, from Belagavi district and Mohammed Fazalullah, 35, cleaner of the bus who hailed from Bengaluru. The third man, believed to be a passenger, was yet to be identified. All three men were sitting in the front seats.
The injured passengers were taken to Tumakuru district government hospital. The driver fled the scene immediately after the accident and is yet to be identified. The Tumakuru police have registered a case and are tracking him down.
A mad scramble for soaps
The fact that three people were dead and 10 injured did little to stop locals, passing motorists, and even passengers aboard the bus, which met with the accident, from collecting free soaps. When the bus driver rammed into the truck, it fell to the side and boxes filled with soaps spilled onto the road. As both the vehicles came to a halt, people started making a beeline for the soaps while passengers milled around in a daze.
Residents from nearby Rangapura, Oorukere and neighbouring villages rushed to the accident site and were seen returning to their houses with cardboard boxes and carry-bags full of soaps. Those who didn’t have bags stuffed as much as they could into pockets of their trousers and shirts, while women used their sari pallus to hold them. Even passing motorists stopped to help themselves to the toiletries. “I have taken around 20 soaps, which will last for the next six months,” said a factory worker from Rangapura, who like his friends, seemed oblivious to the fact that people had been injured.
The presence of police did not prevent people from collecting soaps. The police who were busy rescuing passengers trapped in the bus, have also registered a case of theft against unidentified people.
