VADESAMUDRA (MANDYA DISTRICT): A pall of gloom descended on Vadesamudra village in Pandavapura taluk where last rites of eight of the 30 people killed in Saturday’s bus accident were performed on Sunday.
A private bus carrying 34 people plunged into a canal after the bus driver allegedly lost control over the steering and ploughed into the link canal of Visvesvaraya Canal at Kanaganamaradi village in the same taluk. While the driver and the cleaner and two passengers had a miraculous escape, the remaining 30 met with watery grave.
On Sunday, heart-rending scenes were witnessed, as the mortal remains of the accident victims were cremated en masse at the graveyard on the outskirts of the village. Those cremated were—Kariyappa and his grandson Prashanth, Ratnamma and her daughter Shashikala, Kamalamma, Pavitra, Chikkaiah and Ravikumar.
While some preferred to carry the mortal remains on their own in tractors to the graveyard, an ambulance attached to the taluk hospital at Pandavapura was also deployed to carry the bodies for the funeral. Though the deceased belonged to different castes, the villagers decided to perform their last rites together. As the pyres arranged in a row were lit, the grief-stricken relatives could not control their emotions and were seen shedding tears for their near and dear ones.
Prior to that, tahsildar Hanumantharayappa who represented the taluk administration paid his last respects to the departed souls.
B Chinnaswamy from the same village told The New Indian Express that wooden logs belonging to different species of trees like banyan and neem and also dried coconut fronds were collected from a saw mill to make arrangements for the last rites. In addition to that, kerosene and ghee were also used. While the rituals were performed at the houses of the victims, the pyres were lit by one of the male members from each of the families of the victims.
“It seems the fate had brought Kariyappa and his grandson Prasthanth together, in what turned out to be their last journey as it was just by a mere coincidence that both had got on to the same bus. Kariyappa who was not feeling well, had gone to a hospital in Pandavapura and was returning in the same bus that was boarded by his grandson Prashanth at the bus stop outside his school at Kanaganamaradi,” said another villager. It was also for the first time that the village had witnessed such a grave tragedy; the one reason that had brought all together in the hours of grief.
Parents of deceased sisters fall ill
Mandya: A couple who lost their two daughters in the accident have taken ill and are admitted to a hospital. Pavitra and Devaraju of Kodishettypura lost their two children-- Kalpana (11) and Sowmya (5). Even as the last rites of the sisters were conducted on Saturday night itself at their native, their mother collapsed and was rushed to a hospital.
She is diagnosed with low BP and is under treatment at the district hospital. Devaraju, the girls’ father, fell ill on Sunday morning and is also admitted to the same hospital. According to the first information report (FIR number 0414/ 2018) registered at Pandavapura police station, a case of negligence and rash driving has been registered against the driver, under various IPC sections.