BENGALURU:A 17-year-old Mount Carmel College student was crushed to death by a speeding BMTC bus when she was entering the busy Kempegowda Bus Station on Monday morning.
Poornima Sundar, a first year PUC student, used to take the BMTC bus only occasionally as her father Sundar Murthy, a florist, usually dropped her to the college. Murthy is a resident of Balepet.
On Monday morning, Poornima and her younger sister Harshita, who studies at Sindhi High School, hired an autorickshaw near the BMTC bus stand. Poornima alighted as they reached the bus stand to take a bus while her sister continued her journey to school.
Around 7.5 am, when Poornima was crossing the road, a BMTC bus mowed her down, killing her on the spot. The bus was entering the terminus from the Krishna Flour Mills end. The driver left the bus and fled. The commuters in the bus too left the spot without alerting the police. It was an autorickshaw driver who alerted the Upparpet police. Eyewitnesses said the autorickshaw driver also tried to catch the bus driver, but he managed to escape. The bus hit the girl and its rear wheels ran over her head, killing her on the spot, eyewitnesses added.
Onlookers rushed the girl to Victoria Hospital where the doctors declared her brought dead. Her body was handed over to the family after the post-postmortem.
Furious commuters and family members claimed the bus driver was negligent. Upparpet police arrested the driver in the evening and identified him as Lokesh Gowda, attached to Depot 27.
Eyes donated: On getting information about their daughter’s death, the shocked parents rushed to the spot. Minutes later, they decided to donate her eyes. Eye bank personnel arrived at the Victoria Hospital, where the post-mortem was done, and collected the eyes.
She was bright student, Says Principal
Mount Carmel College principal Sister Ashwini said Poornima was a bright and hard working girl.
“I still remember her father saying after one of the parent-teacher meetings that she was upset when she did not get a seat in the first round.
“He said she insisted on studying in our college and was very happy when she saw her name in second list,” she recalled.
Soon after the incident, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation staff and city police began to direct people towards the skywalk.
While the commuters obeyed the police for a while, a few hours later, people were seen using the road again to enter the bus stand.
Ramesh, a commuter who catches his bus from the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation bus stand said, “The accident spot is a busy junction where buses from Malleswaram, Okalipuram and other areas enter the bus station. Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation buses also take this road and turn towards the inter-state bus stand.
“Buses generally slow down before entering the bus stand and commuters alight here to catch autorickshaws or private vehicles. Commuters must be made to use the skywalk. Strict rules should be made to prevent such accidents,” he said.
Another girl hit by bmtc bus
A 17-year-old girl was injured after a BMTC bus hit her near Maharani’s College on Monday. Shankari, a I PU student of Maharani’s College, was trying to cross the road when the bus hit her. The driver rushed her to hospital where doctors said she was out of danger.