BENGALURU: A woman and her two daughters were charred to death while her husband suffered severe burns when their car caught fire after colliding head-on with a lorry on NICE Road in Thalaghattapura traffic police limits early Tuesday.
The deceased are Sindhu, 31, M Pranavi, 6, and M Kashavi, 4. Sindhu’s husband B Mahendran, 35, an IT professional, is undergoing treatment.
Police said the family hailed from Salem in Tamil Nadu and lived at Vijinapura near Dooravaninagar in Ramamurthynagar. They all went shopping at Nagasandra on Tumakuru Road on Monday after renting a car.
While returning home, Mahendran, who was overspeeding, reportedly lost control over the car at Sompura Clover Leaf Junction between Mysuru Road and Kanakapura Road around 2.50 am. The car ran over the road median and started moving on the opposite lane. It soon collided with the lorry and caught fire.
Car jumped median onto opposite lane: Police
Mahendran survived as the airbags opened. By the time he got out, the car was up in flames. He still managed to pull Pranavi out of the burning car, but she suffered severe burns by then. Sindhu and Kashavi were charred to death on the spot. A fire tender had to be called to douse the fire, the police said. Mahendran and Pranavi were rushed to hospital. But Pranavi succumbed to burns at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health in Jayanagar.
Mahendran is said to have told the police that he could not apply the brakes as a water bottle fell under the brake pedal. This led to the accident.
“All three died of burns. Overspeeding is the reason for the accident. The car caught fire due to the impact of the collision. The car, after crossing the median, started moving on the opposite lane and collided head-on with the lorry. Even the lorry overturned after the collision,” Shiva Prakash Devaraju, DCP (South Traffic), said. The Thalaghattapura traffic police have registered a case against Mahendran.