Mishap near Bababudangiri hills claims nine lives

Nine persons were killed and 28 others were injured when a private bus carrying them tumbled down a 200 feet gorge near the disputed hill shrine of Bababudangiri in Karnataka’s Chikmagalur district.

Police said the mishap took place when the private bus, carrying around 40 passengers, was returning to Chikmagalur town from Bababudangiri on Wednesday. The bus slipped into the gorge while yielding way to another vehicle coming from the opposite direction.

Six persons died on the spot and the remaining three breathed their last at the Government hospital in Chikmagalur district. Residents of nearby villages rushed to the accident spot and transported the injured persons to the hospitals. Three seriously injured persons have been rushed to a private hospital in Bangalore.

Police said the deceased persons included a tourist from Bihar. A majority of the passengers of the ill-fated bus were tourists, including fakirs from Ajmer. Out of the nine persons, who died in the mishap, two were women from Chikmagalur.

The police had a tough time extricating the dead bodies from the mangled remains of the private bus, which had tumbled down the 200 feet gorge. The private bus was no more than a mass of twisted metal after came to a halt at Kavikalagundi about 20 kms from Chikmagalur.