Five of Karnataka family among 6 killed in Kasaragod bus accident

Kasaragod: Six persons, including five members of a family, were killed and an elderly woman and her son were seriously injured after a Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus hit two autorickshaws and people waiting by the roadside at Talapady here, on the Kerala–Karnataka border, on Thursday.An FIR under Sections 281 (rash driving), 125(a) (act endangering life or personal safety of others), and 106(1) (causing death by negligence) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita has been registered against the driver of the bus, police said.Meanwhile, KSRTC claimed that the bus had valid fitness certification and ruled out any technical fault. It attributed the accident to reckless driving.The deceased were identified as Hyderali (47), Khadeeja (50), her 10-year-old daughter Hasna, sister Nafeesa (52), Nafeesa's daughter Ayisha Fida (19) — all from Ullal taluk of Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka — and Khadeeja's aunt Havamma (72) from Farangipete, Mangaluru. Hyderali was driving a Mangaluru-registered autorickshaw. The family was on their way to a relative's house at Thuminad in Manjeswaram, Kasaragod, to attend a function.The injured, Lakshmi (61) and her son Surendran (39) of Perumbala in Kasaragod, were waiting for a bus by the roadside.The mishap occurred around 1.15pm on NH-66, barely 10 metres after Kerala's six-lane highway narrows to four lanes in Karnataka.According to witnesses, it was raining heavily at the time of the accident. The bus, travelling towards Mangaluru from Kasaragod, took the flyover instead of the service road and braked suddenly after leaving the six-lane stretch. Its rear tyres lost grip on the wet surface, causing it to skid and ram into an autorickshaw, which was completely destroyed, killing autodriver Hyderali and his five passengers.The bus driver then fled the scene without securing the bus, which was on a slope. The vehicle rolled back and crashed into another autorickshaw parked on the roadside. Its driver escaped with minor injuries, while Lakshmi and Surendran were trapped in between the bus and the autorickshaw.