Seven from Karnataka killed in Kasaragod bus accident

KOZHIKODE: At least seven persons, including two teenagers, from Karnataka were killed and many others injured when a tourist bus carrying a marriage party lost control and veered off the road before overturning on a house at Pariyaram near Panathur in Kasaragod on Sunday.
The accident took place around 12.30pm. The deceased are Ravichandran (40), Jayalakshmi (39) of Sulya, Sumathi (50) of Puttur, Rajesh (45) of Valnad, Sasidhara Poojari of Bandwal, Shreyas (13) of Ardhamoola and Adarsh (12) of Puttur.Of these, Poojari had died at a hospital in Mangaluru.
The bus carrying relatives and friends of the bride’s family was travelling from Ishwaramangala near Sulya in Karnataka to the border village of Chethukayam in Karike panchayat, also in Karnataka. The connecting road passes through Kerala.
The bus lost control while descending a steep slope and veered off the road and hit a tree and overturned on top of an uninhabited house situated below the road. Some of the injured said the bus was speeding. The front portion of the overturned bus had rammed into the house and rescue workers had to break open the bus to rescue those trapped inside. Some passengers had fallen off the bus too.
The local people turned rescuers by rushing the injured immediately to nearby hospitals in whatever vehicles they could find. Those requiring further treatment were shifted to the Kanhangad district hospital some 35 km away while 12 seriously injured persons were taken to two Mangaluru hospitals. Later in the evening, 31 persons with minor injuries were also shifted to Mangaluru district hospital on their request.
‘Many in bus were standee passengers’
Kasaragod district collector Dr D Saith Babu said there were around 70 persons, including 60 adults, in the bus and many people were standing.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan offered his condolences and said steps had been taken to provide medical care to the injured.
Kanhangad sub collector R Meghasri has been asked to investigate the accident while transport minister A K Saseendran has asked the regional transport officer to submit a report immediately.