Kerala Bus Accident: Around 40 people have also been injured in the accident, police said.
Palakkad:
Kerala Road Transport Minister Antony Raju said on Thursday that a private tourist bus rammed a government KSRTC bus from behind at Vadakkanchery in Kerala’s Palakkad, killing nine people, including five students.
The minister said the accident took place around 11.30 pm on Wednesday when a private bus, which was traveling at high speed, was trying to overtake a car, from the rear end of a Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus. Collided.
“Because of this, both the buses went off the road. Nine people including five students and a teacher died in the accident,” he told the media.
The minister also said that the initial view was that the accident occurred due to over speeding of the private bus and the negligence of its driver.
He said the KSRTC bus was going from Kottarakkara in Kerala to Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and had 81 passengers on board, out of which three died in the accident.
42 students and 5 teachers of Basilios Vidyaniketan Senior Secondary School in Ernakulam were on a joy ride in the private bus.
State local self-government minister MB Rajesh, who visited the hospital in Palakkad where the injured were admitted, told reporters that four of them were in critical condition, but the rest were fine.
Meanwhile, state Revenue Minister K Rajan told the media that everyone was shocked by what happened.
He said an inquiry would be conducted to find out how and why the accident happened and strict steps would be needed to prevent such incidents in future.
Mr Rajan said a cabinet meeting would be held to consider providing compensation to families who lost loved ones in the accident and counseling could be provided to students who lost their close friends and a teacher in the tragic incident.
One of the students told a TV channel that the private bus was going very fast and then rammed into the rear right side of the KSRTC bus and then overturned.
“There was blood everywhere. We don’t know what happened to some of our friends and teachers, who were in bad shape,” he said, crying.
Another student said that she was watching a movie when the accident happened and someone got down on her as the bus overturned.
“Someone pulled me and the other girl out of the bus. But the girl sitting next to me could not be pulled out for a long time,” she said.
Police said that around 40 people were injured in the accident.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)