BENGALURU: A tree fall that claimed three lives on Friday night could have been prevented, according to local residents. The family of three was in a car when a tree fell on them, killing them on the spot.
Residents say a few months ago they had raised concerns regarding the possibility of the tree falling. In fact, they had even lodged a complaint and requested that the tree be chopped, but it had not got a clearance from the BBMP.
On Friday night, a family of three died after a Eucalyptus tree fell on the car they were in. The incident occurred in an area parallel to JC Road. There is no tar road to access the area. The Eucalyptus tree was right beside the road used by vehicles. Apart from the victims’ car, there were three two wheelers and a car, were still covered by the tree on Saturday.
On Friday, locals from nearby heard the cries of Bharati, one of the victims. Sridhar M, who saw the tree fall, said, “I had never seen such a strong gush of wind. The tree initially twisted, at which point I was scared it might fall. And then it fell and crashed on the car.”
Sridhar and other residents rushed to help and cleared away as many branches as they could, but could not reach the victims. Venugopal, another resident, claimed that the fire department personnel who reached the spot were not equipped well enough to rescue the victims.
However, Chief Fire Officer Basavanna refuted the allegations and said the operation was not simple. “We first had to cut away the branches with a saw, then cut the top part of the car with a hydraulic cutter. The entire car was crushed, all doors had got jammed and all the victims’ bodies were bent. This was the only way we could approach it,” he said. There is another big tree in the locality. Residents say the heavier branches could be chopped as a precautionery measure.