KANHANGAD: Seven persons, including two children, were killed when a bus transporting wedding guests from Puttur in Karnataka veered off a steep road and fell on top of an uninhabited house at Pariyaram, a border village near Panathur in Kasaragod district on Sunday.
The bus was on its way to Karike panchayat in Karnataka when it met with the accident at Pariyaram, said the passengers. All the deceased belonged to Puttur in Dakshina Kannada.
The district administration identified them as Aadarsh (12), a deaf and mute boy, and his father Rajesh (45); Sreyas (13); Ravichandran (40) and his wife Seshamma (39); Sumathi (50); and the cleaner of the bus Sasidhara Poojary (43).
The private bus had around 65 persons, including 14 children, according to passengers. Of them, 11 persons suffered serious injuries and 46 persons suffered minor injuries, said district surveillance officer Dr A T Manoj.
The seriously injured first brought to the Taluk Hospital in Poodankal, 17 km away, and then to District Hospital in Kanhangad, 40 km away.
Later, the 11 patients were shifted to private hospitals in Mangaluru in ambulances.
District medical officer Dr A V Ramdas identified the critically injured persons as Sujith (13), Vijith (13), Vijay (17), Lihitha (17), Kavyasree (17), Vidya (18), Shivappa (40), Vijya (41), Malathy (42), Parvathi (62), and Akkamma (65).
Those with minor injuries were treated in the Taluk Hospital and the District Hospital and in the evening, they were bused to Wenlock District Hospital in Mangaluru, from where the Dakshina Kannada district administration would drop them back home in Puttur.
Wedding and the tragedy
Aruna, a young BEd graduate from Puttur, and Prashanth Kumar, an employee of Karike panchayat's water division, was getting married on Sunday.
In the morning, there was a wedding ritual in Aruna's house in Puttur and the ritual of tying the thali was scheduled in Kumar's house at Karike panchayat in the afternoon.
Around 10.30 am, two buses -- one each with guests of the bride and the groom -- left Puttur for Kumar's house in Karike. The bride and the groom left ahead in private cars.
However, to reach Karike panchayat inside the Pushpagiri reserve forest of Karnataka, they have to travel 10km in Kasaragod's Panathady panchayat.
The accident happened around 12.30 pm at Pariyaram near Panathur, which was 5km from Kumar's house in Karike panchayat.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, minister for transport A K Saseendran and revenue minister from Kasaragod E Chandrasekharan expressed condolences.
Transport minister Saseendran has asked for a report on the accident. Kasaragod collector D Sajith Babu said he has deputed Kanhangad sub-collector D R Megasree to enquire into the accident.