Kollam: Several people were injured when a Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus caught fire after a concrete mixer lorry rammed it at Kottarakkara in Kerala's Kollam district on Saturday. Both the drivers and nine other people were injured in the incident. Most of the passengers are said to be safe.
Both the KSRTC bus and the lorry were completely gutted.
The accident happened along the Kottarakkara-Ayur route at Vayakal near Polikode around 2:30pm. The traffic along the route has been temporarily suspended.
The fast passenger bus with the Kilimanoor depot met with the accident. The Thiruvananthapuram-bound bus was coming from Kottarakkara.
The injured have been admitted to the Kottarakara taluk hospital and medical college hospital.
Bus driver Prakash, 50, of Karettu in Thiruvananthapuram suffered burns. Conductor Sajeem, 41, of Pallickal suffered head injuries. The doctors have said that none of the injured are in a critical condition. The injured have only suffered less than 30 per cent burns. If their vital organs have suffered burns, the patients would be shifted to the Burns ICU.
The lorry made a hasty entry on to the road from a wayside parking lot and rammed the bus, eyewitnesses said. The diesel tank on the front portion of the lorry was wrecked in the impact, of the accident, causing the fire.
The fire force personnel, who rushed to the spot, doused the blaze.
