Hyderabad: Bystander killed in freak car accident

Hyderabad: A car flew off the Biodivresity flyover at around 1 pm on Saturday, killing one woman and injuring several others. A red Volkwagen Polo car, driven by Milan Krishna (27), rubbed against the railing for several metres before falling over on to the road. Even after it fell on to the ground, its momentum propelled it into a tree opposite the showroom, uprooting it completely and it, in turn, fell on onlookers at a bus stop and auto-stand. The car number was TS-09/EW-5665.

Satyaveni, a resident of Manikonda, was killed on the spot, with her head reportedly severed due to the collision with the tree. Her daughter Pranitha, who was standing beside her, escaped with minor injuries. Nearby K. Kubra (23), who had come to Madhapur for a job interview, suffered pelvic fractures and P. Balu Nayak (38), an auto-driver waiting at the stand, suffered a fracture in his left foot, his auto hit by the car. A few others — autodrivers M. Pandu and M. Kranthi Kumar — suffered minor injuries from the car’s shattered windscreen. All of them were taken to the nearby CARE Hospital, Hitec City, for treatment. Also, some of vehicles parked at a Nissan showroom were damaged.  Ashraf Ali, a food delivery man, was waiting outside a restaurant on the other side of the junction. “I first saw sparks flying off the railing in the distance. After a few seconds, the car flew over and fell on to the ground with a loud bang. I ran to the place. A tree was uprooted entirely. There was blood everywhere,” he said.

Other eyewitnesses said that a sharp branch or root of the tree crashed into Satyaveni and killed her on the spot. Rajeswari, an witness to the accident, said, “I stopped my scooter to take a call. Then I saw the car zoom through the air. A large branch of the uprooted tree hit the woman right in the face.”

 Satyaveni and her daughter had come to the locality to search for houses. Her husband Somashekar, along with daughters Pranitha and Vani, live in Manikonda. The family is from Pentapadu in Andhra Pradesh. They had moved to Hyderabad one and a half years ago when Pranitha found a job here after her MBA. Pranitha is unemployed currently, but her younger sister Vani recently joined an IT company and the family wanted to move closer to work. Somashekar is an accounts manager at a restaurant in Madhapur.

At the hospital, an inconsolable Somashekar was informing relatives of the tragedy.  Saty-aveni’s body was taken to Osmania General Hos-pital for a post mortem. A few hours after the accident, Pranitha was discharged and the family left for Andhra Pradesh for the last rites.

 P. Balu Nayak recalled: “I was inside my autorickshaw when I heard the crash. I saw the car coming towards me and immediately got out of my vehicle. But the car hit my auto on the side and its tyre rose upwards and injured me in the leg,” he said. He is a resident of Papireddy Nagar near Chandanagar.  Kub-ra, a native of Anantapur was in shock.

Meanwhile, driver Milan Krishna’s condition is said to be critical. Madhapur ACP, N. Shyam Prasad Rao, said, “He is currently under observation in the ICU. We have not taken his statement yet.” Rao said that Krishna was over-speeding on the flyover. “It is clear from the CCTV footage that he was driving at over 100 kmph,” he said, adding the driver was not drunk.

0

‘I thought it was a movie shoot’

Witnesses to the accident at Biodiversity flyover at Gachibowli said it was a surreal sight to behold. “For a second, I thought a movie shooting was going on.

The car flew off the flyover almost as if in slow motion,” said Prasad, a witness standing on the other side of the junction.

M. Kranthi Kumar, an auto-driver whose colleague P. Balu Nayak suffered fractures, said, “It happened so quickly. Nayak was inside his auto when the car came crashing down. We managed to dodge it because we were already on our feet but Nayak could not.”

Witnesses also noted that airbags in the car were deployed, indicating that Milan Krishna a resident of Jubilee Hills had, in fact, fastened his seat belt. “It took the paramedics more than 10 minutes to get him out of the car. The puffed up airbag had to be cut away first,” said a witness.

Milan Krishna has suffered multiple fractures and there are abrasions. The police and the officials of the municipal corporation have spoken to him. He is under treatment in the intensive care unit.

Meanwhile, scores of passersby gathered at the accident site to see what the brouhaha was about. A girl in a red kurta was walking by and was saved by seconds as a little later and the car would have hit her. Other women came running around as no one could understand what the sound was all about.

Some students ran into the compound to save themselves from the loud noise that they had heard. One tyre of the car wheeled out and fell on the road due to the impact. The car was lying upturned and the people ran towards it to see the driver. People gathered in huge numbers but it was only the paramedics who could bring him out.

The GHMC and police teams cleared off the debris from the fallen tree. They pointed at the blood on the ground and discussed among themselves how the flyover was ‘jinxed’. The flyover being jinxed was being discussed by many locals in the area who are witnessing accidents since its inauguration. “Didn’t some people die while standing on it a few days ago? What’s wrong with this flyover?” asked one. Another passerby, Manohar, said, “I will avoid this flyover entirely. I won’t pass underneath it or use it.” Amjadullah Khan, another passerby, who commutes through the location every day, claimed it was the winding ‘S’ shape of the flyover causing the accidents. “The flyover is very strangely built. It is very fast-paced and there are a lot of curves. I have seen many people speeding over it,” he said.

Meanwhile, Twitter was abuzz with discussion of the accident and the flyover. One dubbed the flyover ‘Bio-die-versity’.

Biodiversity flyover to be shut for 3 days

Cyberabad police announced on Saturday evening that the Biodiversity flyover, the scene of a major accident in the afternoon, would be closed down for three days. Commuters going from Gachibowli towards Raidurgam should not go on the flyover.

People have also been asked to not stand on the flyover after stopping their bikes.

People have also been asked to not overtake at curves on the flyover as it is dangerous.

A release from the Cyberabad DCP (Traffic) office blamed the driver of the car for the accident. “Today’s accident has been solely because of over-speeding,” it read. The car was apparently being driven at over 104 kmph, when the speed limit is only 40 kmph. The release also prohibited people from stopping on the flyover. During the last six days 550 over-speeding challans have been generated on Biodiversity Flyover by Cyberabad Traffic Police (CTP) using the latest technology and CCTVs.

Traffic police is continuously monitoring the flyover via CCTV and giving instructions to the citizens through the public addressing system (PAS). Today’s vehicle was moving at 105kmph when the incident took place.

The traffic police has advised people to follow self-discipline and not over-speed on the flyover. They have asked people to drive safely and stressed that civic behaviour is an important aspect of road safety.