VIRUDHUNAGAR: It was a narrow escape for 62 passengers after the driver of a government bus succumbed to a heart attack behind the wheel near Sethurajapuram in Aruppukottai on Friday. As the deceased, Murugesaraja (54), began to lose control of the vehicle, bus conductor Tirupathi (39) rushed to the driver's cabin and steered the vehicle to safety.
Around 1.10 pm on Friday, Murugesaraja drove the Tiruchy-bound bus out from Tiruchendur bus stand. After driving for around 140 km, the driver fainted and lost control of the vehicle on Thoothukudi-Madurai NH around 3.40 pm. Immediately, Tirupathi took control of the steering and applied brakes.
"When I stopped the bus, one nurse, who was among the passengers, checked Murugesaraja's pulse rate and said it was dropping. We provided him with first aid, but he showed no improvement," Tirupathi told TNIE. He was rushed to the hospital nearby, however, the doctors declared him brought dead.
Recalling that the driver had expressed mild irritation in his chest after breakfast, the conductor said, however, Murugesaraja expressed no uneasiness during the afternoon and had chatted with him as usual during the journey.
The passengers were assigned to two other buses, and the driver's body was sent to a government hospital for postmortem. Murugesaraja had joined the job over a decade ago, and is survived by his wife and two children.