Around twenty persons were injured after a bus rear-ended a lorry at the INTUC junction at Nettoor here on Monday. The Fire and Rescue officials said that the injured were stuck inside the bus for one hour, as it lacked emergency exit facility.
“After the accident, the doors of the bus which carried around fifty passengers, were locked automatically. The passengers had to spend nearly an hour inside the bus with injuries owing to the lack of emergency exit facility. The emergency exit was seen closed with iron sheets. We had to drill the door of the bus to take out the injured tourists from the bus,” said a Fire and rescue official. According to the traffic police, the injured are identified as residents of Kozhikode. They were returning to Kozhikode after visiting Kanyakumari. The accident occurred at 1 am.
The traffic police said that the tourist bus rear-ended the tipper lorry when the lorry put a sudden break. After the incident, the Fire and rescue officials from Ernakulam, and the Edapally traffic police reached the spot for rescue operations.
Padmaja, 62, wife of Mohanakrishnan, who suffered injury to her leg, was admitted to the hospital. Others were discharged after they were given first aid.
Meanwhile, locals alleged that the lorry driver was under the influence of alcohol, and the cleaner was driving the tourist bus. Both the vehicles were taken into police custody.