VISAKHAPATNAM / HYDERABAD : Surmising that negligence of the driver might be one of the reasons for Friday night’s bus mishap at Dumuku on Araku Ghat road, RTA officials said the ill-fated vehicle carrying 26 passengers, including the driver, fell down vertically from a height of 20 feet before hitting the ground and rolled down 80 feet below, which left four dead and 22 injured.
The driver rammed the retaining wall after he lost control over the bus while negotiating the fifth hairpin bend at Dumuku. According to an RTA inquiry report, the accident was not due to brake failure as claimed by the driver, as no skid marks were found on the ghat road.
“The driver did not apply the brakes at all. If there was any brake failure, there would have been sudden steering movements. The driver might have been in a drowsy condition,’’ the report said. The report, accessed by Express, further stated that the reasons for the mishap were negligent driving, hectic work schedule and the fact that the driver did not have any experience driving on the Araku-Vizag Ghat road.
There was no illumination on the road and no radium stickers on the retaining wall of the steep curve. However, there were cat eyes on the road margins. The condition of the road was good and there were no engineering problems, the report revealed.
Sleepless night for kin in Hyd
The family members of those who met with the bus mishap went through a living nightmare throughout the night in Hyderabad, unable to know the gravity of the situation in Vizag. For 24 hours after the incident, none of the family members could reach their loved ones battling for life at a hospital in Vizag because of poor telecom connectivity. “We were about to leave for Vizag on Friday night itself after learning about the tragedy, but the politicians who visited our home stopped us.
They said that the government would book a flight for us to Vizag. Legislator Maganti Gopinath said that he would arrange the 5 am flight on Saturday and take care of all expenses, but no tickets were handed over to us. Finally, four tickets for our family members were booked for the 2.50 pm flight,” said Patel Singham, a relative of the victims. “We are constantly watching TV to spot our relatives and see what condition they are in,” said K Prabhakar, another relative.
Mishap occurred at 7.30 pm Araku CI P Pydaiah said the accident occurred at 7.30 pm. “As our priority was to save the lives of survivors, we shifted them to the Community Health Centre at S Kota,” he added
Case registered against driver for negligence The police have registered a case against Srisailam, the driver of the ill-fated bus, under Sections 304A, 338 and 337 of the IPC. Superintendent of Police B Krishna Rao said that the bodies of the four passengers who died in the mishap were sent to Hyderabad after conducting post-mortem. “Efforts to retrieve the illfated bus from the valley have begun. A crane has already been deployed at the accident spot. The bus is likely to be retrieved on Sunday morning,’’ the SP added