One person has miraculous escape; 4 cars, a scooter smashed

Mysore/Mysuru: A huge Gulmohar tree (May-flower tree) fell across Sri Harsha Road this morning, crushing four cars and a scooter. The tree also brought down a few electric poles, snapping power, TV and internet cables. Fortunately, the tree fell at 7 am when there were only a few people moving about on the busy road. A little after 9 am, the incident could have triggered more damages to lives. The video and photos of the crushed cars have gone viral.

The tree was located inside Dr. Rajkumar Park and it came crashing onto the road opposite the City Cooperative Bank. The impact was such that the iron railing fencing of the park by the road was crushed along with the four cars and a scooter parked by the side of the road.

The cars that were crushed were MEZ-5932 (Ambassador), KA-09-D-7198 (Alto), MEY-4444 (Ambassador) and TN-15-C-9275 (Swift). The registration number of the scooter could not be established as it was towed away by the owner soon after the crash.

Manju, a resident of Vijayanagar, who was inside one of the cars, had a providential escape as he was unhurt despite the tree trunk falling on his vehicle. Except for Manju, no other vehicle had people when the incident occurred. 

According to the shopkeepers in the area, the tree’s base was eaten by termites and a major part of the trunk was hollow. Its roots too had grown weak and it could not withstand the gravitational force, they added.

“This is a main road and in November 2021 too, a huge tree fell, crushing three cars and five bikes. The Dr. Rajkumar Park has many such Gulmohar and other weak trees and the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) and the Forest Department must do a regular audit of the condition of the trees and take action to cut down hollow trees,” a hotelier on the road told Star of Mysore.

Soon after the tree fell, the MCC Abhaya-2 team rushed to the spot and began clearing the tree. Traffic on the road was blocked for smooth operation. The Abhaya team was led by Shivu and had Indra, Anand and Mahesh in the team. They were seen cutting the branches into smaller ones with mechanical saws.

Even personnel from the Forest Department and Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation arrived at the spot to assist in the clearance operation.