40 injured as buses collide near Poothotta

Kochi: At least 40 people were injured, six of them seriously, when two private buses collided at Puthenkavu Chirakkal bridge near Poothotta on the outskirts of the city on Friday. The mishap occurred at 9.15 a.m. when ‘Saranya,’ a private bus proceeding to Ernakulam from Punalur, came on the wrong side and rammed into another private bus ‘St Antony’s, going to Kottayam from Ernakulam.

The front portion of both the buses were mangled in the impact. Eyewitnesses said  the buses were speeding but ‘Saranya’ (‘KL 34-B 8688’) came on the wrong lane and tried to avoid the collision by veering to the left at the last minute, but in vain.

Six persons, who sustained head injuries,  including the drivers, were admitted to the Ernakulam General Hospital and the Medical Trust Hospital while three others were rushed to the VKM Hospital, Tripunithura.  One Samkutty was referred to Medical College Hospital in Kottayam.

“A total of 23 people were admitted to various hospitals while the rest were discharged after administering first aid.  We’ve registered  a case for rash and negligent driving against both the drivers and a report was submitted to the Motor Vehicles Department,” said Mr V. Jayaprakash, Sub-Inspector, Mulanthuruthy police.

Mr K. Manoj Kumar, Tripunithura Joint RTO, said proceedings had been initiated to cancel the driving licences  of the driver of ‘Saraya,’ which according to the local police report is the offending bus. “We’ll also recommend to the RTA board to cancel the permit of the offending bus, which was earlier also involved in mishaps due to rash driving,” the officer said.