KARWAR: A man has prevented an NWKRTC bus driving downhill with 50 passengers on board from a possible mishap by slowing it down with his truck. The brake of the NWKRTC bus from Gadag depot failed on National Highway-63 at Arebail Ghat near Yellapur when it was heading to Karwar from Gadag via Hubballi on Saturday.
The bus was plying in about 50-km speed when the brake failed. The driver tried to bring the bus under his control, but his efforts did not yield any result. The bus started moving down swiftly.The incident took place 4 km away from Arebail village. The driver was not in a position to control the bus due to its brake failure and 50 passengers onboard were panicked. The bus rammed a truck, which was transporting organic fertiliser to Halavalli village from Yellapur, from behind. Within no time, the bus hit the truck again. The truck driver, who has 40 years of driving experience, soon realised that the brake of the bus has failed, hence it is hitting his truck.
Eranna B Angadi, the truck driver from Yellapur, said he was carrying fertilisers to a farmhouse at Halavalli village in Yellapur. The bus hit his truck and within no time, it rammed it again. “I realised that the brake of the bus has failed. If I gave him side, the bus would have fallen into a gorge or collided with a gas tanker, which was coming from the opposite direction, leading to a major mishap. Therefore, I managed to slow down the bus gradually and stopped at Arebail village.”
“I did not think about the damage to my truck, I was thinking of saving the passengers and the helpless bus driver. My son also works in the KSRTC and I have been working as a driver for the last four decades. I can understand the condition of the driver in time of emergencies,” he said.
The bus rammed the truck six times and both the vehicles damaged slightly. But the timely help of the truck driver and action of the bus driver helped in preventing a major mishap. The passengers thanked both their driver and septuagenarian Eranna.
‘Ply good buses’
A passenger expressed his unhappiness over NWKRTC’s Gadag depot plying a bus which is not fit for service in the ghat section. “It is the duty of the department concerned to deploy good buses,” he said.
Bad roads
When it comes to NH-63, authorities have not taken up pothole filling and railing repair work after monsoon season, and the damaged road at Arebail Ghat, one of the busy roads, has been posing a threat to vehicle users.