Five people, including four women, were killed and nearly 55 injured, when a speeding private bus collided head-on with a KSRTC fast passenger bus on the MC Road near Chadayamangalam in Kollam district on Monday.
Priya Augustine, 33, of Edappazhanji, Thara Shine, 23, Canon House, Vilappilsala, Saseendran, 53, of Kallummoodu near Nemom (all from Thiruvananthapuram district) and Jayasree, 19, of Panayam, Yeroor near Anchal and Ambili of Anchal (both Kollam district) are the deceased. The deceased were the passengers of the Pampa-bound KSRTC fast passenger from Thiruvananthapuram. The accident occurred around 9.45 a.m., when the speeding private bus bound for Kadakkal (Thiruvananthapuram side) from Punalur overtook another vehicle at a steep turning, resulting in the collision with the KSRTC bus.
Though the KSRTC bus driver tried to swerve the vehicle towards the left side in an attempt to avoid collision, the private bus rammed into the right side of the bus. There was a slight drizzle at that time and both the buses dragged for about 20 metres in the impact of the collision. Eight rows of seats on the right side of the KSRTC bus were devastated in the impact.
Priya Augustine, seated near the window on the fourth row from the driver’s seat, died on the spot. She was a teacher of the Anchal West Govt High School and was on her way to school.
Ministers Adoor Prakash and K C Joseph, Mullakkara Ratnakaran MLA, KSRTC chairman and MD K G Mohanlal, Kollam Collector B Mohanan and Kollam Rural SP S Surendran visited the spot.