KSRTC accident: 32-year-old Kochi native Allen recalls the narrow escape

Since the main door was damaged, the passengers had to break the glass and get out of the bus. It was after the fire force team arrived that the rest of the passengers could get out.

21 people were killed when the KSRTC Volvo bus in which they were travelling from Bangalore to Ernakulam collided with a container lorry at Avinashi near Coimbatore. (Photo by special arrangement)

KOCHI: It was a narrow escape for Allen Charles, a 32-year-old student who was returning to his home in Panangad, Kochi on Thursday morning. He boarded the bus, which was 45 minutes late, from Christ University Bengaluru. Allen who was seated towards the last row of the bus was asleep when the accident took place.  

At least 21 people, including five women, were killed when the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation bus collided head-on with a lorry near Avanashi town, about 40 kms from Coimbatore, officials said.

"If the truck had hit the bus towards the back, I would not have been alive now," recalls Allen, who went to Bengaluru for his visa requirements.

"I boarded the bus at 9:10 pm, my seat number was 45 on the window side, which was towards the last row of the bus. We all were asleep by around 11 pm and I had no clue what I was waking up to. The accident might have taken place between 2:30-3 am. It was following the loud noise and the impact that shook the bus which made woke me from my sleep. At first, we did not know what had happened. Whether it was an accident or a breakdown. When I tried to get up from my seat, the hook of the recliner seat got tangled with my buckle and I could not get up. That was when I got to know that it was an accident," said Allen.

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While getting up from the seat, Allen, who is looking forward to going abroad in the coming months in search of a job, injured his leg and the co-passengers helped him to get up from the seat. "We got to know the gravity of the accident only after we got off the bus. Almost half of the bus was damaged and maybe passengers from seat number 30 would have suffered minor injuries," said Allen.

Since the main door was damaged, the passengers had to break the glass and get out of the bus. It was after the fire force team arrived that the rest of the passengers could get out. "The main door of the bus was damaged and the seats jammed the way inside the bus," said Allen.

Jesmin George, a 26-year-old student from Pathanamthitta, suffered major nose injuries in the accident. "Jesmin was seated at 33 and he was discharged from the Tirupur general hospital after dressing the wound and referring him to a plastic surgeon," said Allen, who was with Jesmin at the hospital.