KSRTC bus tragedy: A tragic journey that ended midway...
KOCHI: It was just another Wednesday evening at the Shantinagar Bus Station in Bengaluru. The KSRTC Volvo bus to Ernakulam (No: RS 784), which was scheduled to start at 8 pm, had been delayed by around an hour as many passengers had arrived late.
The bus, which had started from Ernakulam on Monday evening and reached Bengaluru the next day, was initially scheduled to leave on Tuesday. However, due to the limited number of bookings, the trip was postponed to Wednesday.
This time, all seats were booked, and staff members Baiju and Gireesh were checking the reservation chart and helping passengers settle down. Despite the delay, the mood in the bus was jovial, the passengers remember.
“The bus was expected to arrive at Madiwala by 8.30 pm, but it came an hour late,” said Razeem Sait, an interior designer. “The bus was full by then. I slept almost immediately after boarding. Later, they stopped at a vegetarian hotel in Krishnagiri for dinner,” he said.
When things went south
However, it wasn’t long before everything went haywire.
“Around 3.15 am, I heard a deafening sound and was suddenly thrown into the aisle of the bus. It was pitch dark, but I could see that everything was crumbling around us. I heard screams and groans of pain. Bags, seats and people were all falling on each other. A few were struggling to get out of the mangled bus. I tried to get on my feet, but my entire body was aching and I started to feel very dizzy. In the end, it was the rescue workers who brought ladders and took me out,” said Razeem Sait.
Hyderabad-based Devi Kanga, who stays at Chittoor in Kochi, was admittedly lucky to escape. “The right side of the bus was completely damaged. Though my seat number was 10, I was sitting on the left side, which saved my life. Though I was thrown off my seat, I didn’t suffer any major injury. I managed to wriggle out from the bus in 10 minutes and the rescue workers took me to the hospital. My husband, who works at Aster Medcity, came and picked me up,” she said.
Allen Charles, who was admitted to KMC Hospital, Coimbatore, echoed Devi’s sentiments. “The sight of the mangled remains of the bus will frighten you. We were lucky to escape with minor injuries,” he said.
Pravin, 41, an engineer with IBM in Bengaluru, was on his way to his house at Thiruvaniyoor to celebrate Shivaratri with his family. “As he was sitting in the front row, he sustained grievous injuries. He has suffered multiple fractures on his hand and one on his head. He is currently undergoing a surgery at Royal Care Hospital in Coimbatore,” said Arun, Pravin’s brother.
It may have been a stroke of luck that helped them escape the horrific tragedy that unfolded at Avinashi near Coimbatore on Thursday. But there is yet another mountain to climb -- dealing with the images of the lifeless bodies of their fellow passengers that refuse to leave their minds.
KSRTC Volvo multi-axle bus
Trip code: 2000BNGEKM
Vehicle no: RS 784
Regn No: KL 15 A 282
Timeline
9.00 pm Wednesday
Bus starts from Shanti Nagar bus stand, Bengaluru
9.20 pm
Bus reaches Madiwala
10.45 pm
Bus stops at a hotel in Krishnagiri, TN, for dinner
3.20 am Thursday
Container truck rams the bus
3.30 am
Local residents start rescue operation
3.45 am
Police and rescue workers arrive, use gas cutters to cut the mangled bus body and take out the passengers
4.30 am
KSRTC Palakkad depot receives information about the accident
Fact-finding team
The fact-finding team of the Motor Vehicles Department from Palakkad visited the accident spot in Avinashi near Tirupur