Two killed, 30 injured as bus runs amok in Bangalore

Two persons were killed and thirty others were injured when a speeding bus ploughed through a crowded bus shelter in Bangalore on Tuesday evening after knocking down an autorickshaw and two motorcycles.

Enraged at the bus driver’s perceived recklessness, an irate mob torched the bus and brought traffic to a halt in the area around Bangalore Airport. The agitated crowd did not spare even police vehicles and torched two of them on the Airport road.

The casualties were mostly Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) employees, who were leaving after a change of shift in the evening. The mishap took place just outside HAL’s helicopter division, about half a kilometer from the airport, when a large number of employees were milling around the bus stop.

The bus, which belonged to Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), was coming from the Information Technology Park Limited (ITPL) and passing through Airport road when it went out of control.

According to eye-witnesses, the speeding bus first collided with an autorickshaw and careened off to the right of the road, knocking down two motorcycles coming from the opposite direction. Next, the bus hit a tree and ploughed through the bus shelter, forcing the waiting commuters to run helter-skelter. But, a few of them came under the wheels of the bus.

As the bus came to a halt, the driver ran away from the spot screaming, “brake fail, brake fail”. However, the driver John Rose later surrendered before the police.

Three cranes from HAL were pressed into service to lift the bus and pull out the victims. They injured were rushed to nearby HAL and Manipal hospitals. The deceased have been identified as B G Srinivas, 30, an employee of HAL’s Aerospace division, and Rakesh, 22, an autodriver.

A majority of the injured persons are HAL employees. Out of the thirty admitted to the hospital with injuries as many as seventeen are women. The angry mob, which went on a rampage soon after the mishap torching the BMTC bus, refused to even allow fire tenders to put out the blaze.

With traffic grinding to a halt in the area, vehicles bound to Bangalore airport virtually piled-up on the Airport road. Apart from the fire brigade, even police vehicles could not reach the accident spot. Deputy Commissioner of Police (East), Bangalore City, M A Saleem had to leave his car at ISRO junction, about three kms away, and had to trek to the accident spot.