Woman passenger blames driver for ‘Kallada’ bus mishap

Kozhikode: Before Kerala could recover from the shock of the gruesome mishap involving a KSRTC bus at Avinashi in Tamil Nadu, a bus belonging to private operator ‘Kallada’ transports also on the Bengaluru-Kerala route met with an accident at Mysuru, killing a woman passenger.

Now, another woman passenger of the ‘Kallada’ bus has placed the blame of the incident entirely on the driver for rash driving and excess speed.

In a Facebook video post, the passenger Amrutha Menon says that several other passengers had cautioned the driver against exceeding the speed limits and that a pregnant woman was also travelling in the bus.

Giving a detailed account, Amrutha says the bus started from Bengaluru at 9:30 pm sharp and after covering some distance, it began travelling extremely fast. Amrutha was lying on a berth but was rocking to either side owing to the rash driving.

“Two or three of my co-passengers approached the driver and told him to reduce the speed as several ladies, including a pregnant woman, were travelling in the vehicle,” she says.

But they were ticked off by the driver, who said they need not bother about his driving as he was familiar with the road.

“The bus later met with the accident around 1:30 am when all of us were asleep. Initially, we had no clue what had happened. All passengers were thrown here and there. My head hit somewhere and there was a blood clot. I was in a lower berth and the upper berth fell on me along with the passenger,” recalls Amrutha.

Similarly, everything above had fallen on the deceased woman too and she died due to internal injuries. The victim was identified as Sherin (20), native of Nagpur district in Maharashtra.

After the accident, Amrutha was shifted from the accident site by some strangers. The first sight she saw was the cleaner of the bus lying without a leg. Some others lost their hand and fingers. The pregnant woman lost her baby.

“All this occurred due to the driver's rash driving. I request Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the Kerala Police to enforce measures to ensure a safe journey,” Amrutha pleaded.

The Kallada bus was heading to Perinthalmanna and apart from the deceased woman, 20 persons were injured. The condition of three passengers was reported to be critical.