KSRTC bus plunges into Shimsha River; one dead, 6 critical

Bengaluru:  A Mysuru bound KSRTC bus, with 39 passengers on board, rammed into the guard railings of the bridge, after the driver lost control over the vehicle, and plunged into Shimsha River, around 40 feet below, killing one person and critically injuring around 16 passengers. The deceased has been identified as H.M. Ramakrishna, 47, a resident Hebberallu.

According to the police, the KSRTC bus (registration number KA13-F1944), belonging to the Hassan depot, originated from Bengaluru and was heading towards Mysuru, en route to Shravanabelagola. The accident happened around 2.15 pm,  when the bus had reached the Shimsha river bridge near Shivapura in Maddur taluk.

Since there was only knee-deep water in the river there were no cases of drowning. However, since the bus had fallen from a height of over 40 feet passengers suffered grievous injuries. Around six of them sustained head injuries, while the condition of three of them was critical.

The victims were rushed to the Maddur Taluk Government Hospital, around 7-8 km from the accident spot. Most of the patients were later shifted to Mandya Medical College Hospital and K.R. Hospital in Mysuru, and some of them were also referred to private hospitals in Ramanagara.

The body of Ramakrishna was shifted to the hospital morgue and handed over to the family members after the post-mortem.

A case of rash and negligent driving causing death has been registered at the Maddur town police station and further investigations are underway. The driver, Virupakshappa and conductor, Govinda reportedly escaped with minor injury.

Passengers recount horror

Driver was drinking water
“I was sitting right behind the driver when I saw him drink water from a bottle using one hand and he was using his elbow to steer the vehicle when the bus rammed into the side guard rail of the bridge and plunged into the river,”Balamurugan, a passenger.

No clue what was happening
“I was talking to my sister and sitting when we realized that the bus had hit something and after that we could see all the seats crushing together and water gushing into the bus,” recounted Bhagyamma, 60, a resident of Pandavapura.  She along with her sister had baorded the bus at Nayandahalli in the city.

Traffic hit

• Total number of passengers, including driver and conductor, was 39. There were around 6 to 7 women passengers in the bus and there were no children onboard
• KSRTC has announced an ex-gratia of '2.5 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased
• Wreckers and cranes were used to take the bus out of the 40 feet gorge and later towed away the KSRTC bus stand
• Traffic was thrown out of gear on Mysuru road between 3 pm and 5 pm where locals and commuters gathered in huge numbers blocking traffic
• Maddur town policemen rushed to the spot and drove away the crowd, clearing traffic and were seen busy overseeing the rescue operations and shifting the patients to the hospital
• The District Commissioner rushed to the spot and hospital to take the stock of the situation