Three people, including a woman, were killed and seven were injured when the Tempo Traveller they were travelling in crashed into a truck on the Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway in the wee hours of Saturday. The accident occurred near Byrapattna on the outskirts of Channapatna at about 1.30 a.m.
The deceased have been identified as Somalingappa, 70, Somappa, 68, and Rajeshwari Desai, 57, all hailing from Mysuru. The injured include the driver Prasanna, Kumaraswamy, Nithin, Lakshmi, Choodaratana, Leelavathy, and Namratha, also from Mysuru. They are being treated in the ICU of an hospital, the police said.
The victims had gone to attend a wedding in Haveri and were returning home. There were around 14 people in the vehicle, of which four got down at Kengeri and the rest continued their journey towards Mysuru. The driver was allegedly driving in a rash and negligent manner. The police, quoting the statement of the injured, said the victims had advised the driver to drive slowly, but Prasanna did not heed their advice.
As he was allegedly overspeeding, he reportedly lost control of the vehicle and crashed into the truck passing by. The Tempo Traveller overturned due to the impact of the crash. Sensing trouble, the truck driver sped away from the spot. A probe revealed that Prasanna was trying to overtake the truck from the wrong side and this led to the accident. He was driving in the wee hours and was reportedly tired and had no sense of safe distance between vehicles on the expressway, the police said.
The impact of the accident was such that the vehicle was mangled and many passengers were thrown out on the road. Passers-by, along with the police, rushed to the victim’s help and blocked the road for some time, before rescuing them and clearing the damaged vehicle. Traffic was disrupted for some time on the expressway. The accused driver has been booked for causing death due to negligence and for rash and negligent driving. The police are also checking whether the vehicle had proper permit.
Alok Kumar, Special Commissioner, Traffic and Road Safety, said they would step up vigil on the expressway. “We have already put speed guns along the stretches where drivers tend to overspeed. Vehicles from other States that are passing through often overspeed as they don’t know the 100-kmph speed limit,” he said.
