Pramesh S Jain & Dr.Thomas (Special Correspondent)
Atleast 13 people were killed and one injured when a speeding SUV rammed into a parked truck in the outskirts of Chikkaballapur near Bengaluru on Thursday.
The deceased including a child,three women and 8 men were heading from AP towards Bengaluru when the driver failed to noticed the parked tanker and crashed into it.
The deceased have been identified as Aruna,32, resident of Doddaballapura and her six-year-old son Hritvik,Narasimhamurthy,37,working in a saloon in Kavalabhairasandra and resident of Bagepalli in Chikkaballapura,Narasimhappa,40,the SUV driver from Goratla town,Perimili Pawan Kumar,32 from Gorantlapalli,Venkatasubbamma,from Kamakshipalya, Shantamma,37,a garment factory employee at Hongasandra and resident of Puttaparthi, Rajavardhana,15,Venkataramana,51,a weaver at Kamakshipalya and resident of Nawabakota,AP, Narayanappa,50,a labourer working in Yelahanka resident of Malakavarapalli in AP, Bellala Venkatadri,32, a wall painter from Bommasandra and native of Gorantla,his wife Lakshmi,20, a garment factory worker and Ganesha,17-year-old student from Gorantla.
Due to the impact the SUV was mangled and passers-by along with the police who reached the spot by then struggled to pull out the victims and shifted them to hospital.
Superintendent of Police DL Nagesh, with other officers rushed to spot and after inspecting the spot said the accident has taken place near Chikkaballapur on NH 44(Bangalore -Hyderabad) Highway today morning at 7:15 am.
A TATA sumo bearing number AP02 CH 1021 has hit from behind a truck bearing number NL01Q1954.
12 persons in the Tata Sumo have died on spot. One person is seriously injured and is being treated in Chikkaballapur General hospital
Further Investigations into the ghastly road accident, which took the lives of 13 people,was due to rash and negligent driving of the SUV driver, poor visibility and absence of indicators in the truck he said.
The driver of the SUV, carrying the passengers including 6 men four women and two minor boys from along the way from Gorantla town in Andhra Pradesh as part of private pick up transport service.
The victims are all working in Bengaluru and Doddaballapura town and had gone to their home town for the Dasara festival and returning to work,when the incident occurred at around 7.10 am.
Inquiries by the police revealed that Aruna,native of Gorantla was married to Naveen,a private firm employee from Doddabnallapura.She had gone to her native for the festival and returning home with the son .
Narasimhamurthy was native of Marganukunte near Bagepalli,working in a saloon at Kaval Byrasandra had gone to drop his wife and children to his native for festival and returning to work.
His relative who came to drop him suggested him to go by bus but Narasimhamurthy was in a hurry,he took the private cab which was already crowded .
Similarly the deceased Shanthamma and Rajavardhana were residents of Penukonda in AP and working in garment factory and residing in Hongasandra.
The duo had gone to their native to celebrate Dasara long weekend and returning home.
Investigations revealed that the cement bulker truck driver Palani had stopped the vehicle on the road side opposite traffic police station to relieve himself.He has not put the parking lights and indicators which led to the accident.
The accident was also exposed the rash and negligent of the SUV driver who is operating ferry service in white board over loading the passengers.
The police have failed to keep a check on the overloading vehicles and white board vehicle ferrying passengers,a relative of the victim, said.
This also shows how the government failed road safety and providing state run buses in the rural areas and the commuters are forced to depend on the private operators .
DL Nagesh,Superintendent of Police,Chikkaballapura, supervising the investigations said that necessary action will be initiated against illegal transport operators to prevent such accidents in future.
Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah condoled the death of 13 people and announced Rs.2 Lakh Ex-gratia to the victim’s family.
