Bengaluru
oi-Prakash KL
At
least
17
have
been
killed
in
a
road
accident
on
National
Highway
48
at
Gorlathu
Cross
in
Hiriyur
taluk
of
Chitradurga
district,
following
a
lorry
that
collided
with
a
sleeper
bus
on
Thursday.
The
private
sleeper
coach
bus
travelling
from
Bangalore
to
Shivamogga
met
with
a
catastrophic
accident.
A
container
lorry,
reportedly
driven
recklessly,
jumped
the
divider
on
National
Highway
48
and
collided
head-on
with
the
bus.
The
impact
was
so
severe
that
the
bus
immediately
caught
fire,
trapping
passengers
inside,
according
to
the
reports
in
the
Kannada
media.
On
Thursday,
police
reported
a
road
accident
on
National
Highway
48
at
Gorlathu
Cross,
Hiriyur
taluk,
Chitradurga
district,
where
a
private
sleeper
coach
bus
caught
fire
after
colliding
with
a
lorry,
resulting
in
at
least
17
fatalities.
According
to
the
authorities,
at
least
17
passengers
were
burnt
alive,
while
several
others
sustained
critical
injuries
and
were
rushed
to
nearby
hospitals.
The
death
toll
is
feared
to
rise
further.
Among
the
29
passengers
onboard,
15
were
women
and
14
men,
most
of
them
hailing
from
Gokarna,
Kumta,
and
Shivamogga.
Manjunath,
Sandhya,
Shashank,
Dilip,
Prethishwaran,
V
Bindu,
K
Kavitha,
Anirudh
Banerjee,
Amrutha,
Esha,
Suraj,
Manasa,
Milana,
Hemarajumar,
Kalpana
Prajapati,
M
Shashikant,
Vijay
Bhandari,
Navya,
Abhishek,
H
Kiran
Paul,
and
M
Keerthan
were
travelling
in
the
bus.
Bus
driver,
conductor
and
a
few
others
managed
to
escape
by
jumping
out
while
the
lorry
driver,
identified
as
Kuldeep,
was
killed
in
the
accident.
The
accident
caused
a
massive
traffic
jam
stretching
for
kilometres
up
to
Shira,
with
vehicles
stranded
for
hours.
SP
Ranjith
visited
the
site,
and
a
formal
complaint
has
been
lodged
at
the
Hiriyur
Rural
Police
Station.
It
may
be
recalled
that
a
similar
incident
in
Andhra
Pradesh’s
Kurnool
claimed
20
lives
and
left
dozens
injured
in
October.
