A huge road accident in Kerala’s Thrissur district has killed two women and injured almost 24 others after a private limited-stop bus failed to turn on the road and collided with several vehicles in Parayambadam near Kunnamkulam on Thursday afternoon, police said.
The tragedy happened at 2:30 p.m. and sent shock waves through the local community and led to a big emergency response. Initial reports were that the bus was travelling from Kozhikode to Thrissur when the driver lost control of the vehicle and a chain-reaction collision took place between several vehicles on the busy road.
One of those who were killed was Riya Fathima, a student who was travelling in a car struck by the speeding bus. Another woman died, but the identity of that woman was not known at the time of writing this report. Police said that at least nine of them were still in serious condition, and nine were critically injured and are in intensive medical care.
According to investigators, the bus first hit a car before crashing with four other vehicles. The vehicles involved in the crash were a van, an autorickshaw, a motorcycle, and another vehicle in the path of the out-of-control bus; the impact caused extensive damage to the vehicles and debris scattered throughout the accident site.
After the first collision, the bus continued to move; witnesses said it eventually smashed through the boundary wall of a nearby residential property and then stopped in the house compound. The front part of the bus was badly damaged.
Residents near the accident scene rushed to help immediately after hearing the loud bang. Local people and emergency workers and ambulance workers worked together to save passengers and occupants in damaged vehicles and help them out. The injured were rushed to nearby hospitals in Thrissur and Kunnamkulam for treatment immediately.
Witnesses said the bus was going at high speed before the accident, and even some residents said the driver may have struggled to control the vehicle as it approached. But investigators are still not sure exactly what happened, and the accident investigators are not quite sure what caused it because officials have not ruled out the cause so far, but the investigation is ongoing and mechanical failure, driver error, road conditions and speeding are still being studied as well.
Police members arrived on the scene soon after the accident and conducted a detailed investigation. The bus was examined, and witness accounts are being sought to determine if technical failure was the cause of the tragedy.
For a number of hours, traffic in the area was severely affected as rescue work continued and damaged vehicles were removed from the road. Police diverted traffic and tried to restore regular traffic on the route.
The accident has raised concerns about road safety and the operation of private buses in Kerala. Road safety activists have repeatedly appealed to government authorities to make speed enforcement a lot stronger, vehicle inspections more rigorous and public transport services more monitored to prevent a repeat of the incident.
As the investigation goes on, police are providing medical treatment to those who are injured and helping the families of the victims. Most of the critically injured passengers are still being kept under surveillance, police say, but they still do not know exactly what is happening and what happened.
