BENGALURU: As many as 29 passengers were injured after the bus they were travelling in rammed into a metro pillar on Bengaluru-Mysuru Road in the early hours of Monday.
According to sources, the KSRTC bus driver was trying to avoid a pothole when the accident occurred.
The injured, four of them with serious injuries, were admitted to different hospitals for treatment.
The bus carrying 45 passengers was plying from Madikeri to Bengaluru. When the bus neared Poornima Palace (close to BP petrol bunk) it went over a pothole and the driver lost control over the vehicle, which came to a halt after going over the three-feet high road median and ramming into pillar number 545.
The impact of the crash was such that the front portion of the bus was mangled. “If not for the metro pillar, the bus would have ended up on the other side of the road and could have crashed into vehicles coming from the opposite direction,” police said.
The distance between the pothole and the pillar was barely 50 metres, police said adding that the accident could have been avoided had the civic authorities filled up potholes.
"Earlier, several complaints were raised but no action was taken. Luckily, no casualties were reported in the mishap,” police added.
Most of the occupants received injuries on their face and head. The bus driver, identified as B J Manjunath, was also hospitalised.
“Passengers who were sitting in the front and the rear portion of the bus faced the maximum impact,” police further said.
