Miraculous escape for over 80 KSRTC bus passengers

Bus rams against culvert while returning from Himavad Gopalaswamy Temple

Gundlupet: Over 80 passengers of a KSRTC bus had a providential escape yesterday when the bus rammed into a culvert and stood precariously while returning from Himavad Gopalaswamy Hill in Gundlupet. Passengers somehow managed to get out of the bus and walk up to the base of the hill.

Umesh, one of the passengers who had come from Bengaluru to visit the Gopalaswamy Temple along with his family, told Star of Mysore this morning that the KSRTC bus driver lost control over the vehicle while he was coming down the Hill about one-and-a-half kilometres from the check-post.

“It was around 2.15 pm, and we were coming down the Hill in the bus after having a darshan. One more bus was proceeding ahead of our bus. As we neared a curve, our driver lost control and rammed against the culvert. The bus slid down by a few feet and we all had a miraculous escape,” he said.

There were about 80 passengers inside the bus with all the seats full and over 20 passengers were standing. “Minutes before the accident, the bus passed by a ravine that was more than 30 ft deep and we shudder at the thought of what could have happened if the accident took place there,” he said. Umesh said that passengers were in a state of shock and somehow managed to jump out of the bus and walk the remaining distance.

Private vehicles are not allowed up the Hill and pilgrims have to park their vehicles at the base of the Hill and take a KSRTC bus to reach the Temple. “It is a narrow road full of curves and the KSRTC has introduced long-chassis buses. Drivers struggle to negotiate the curves that wind through the Hill. Instead of this, the KSRTC can introduce short-chassis buses that will ease the problem,” he said.

This apart, the buses are jam-packed always. The KSRTC can introduce more short-chassis buses for the convenience of thousands of visitors who visit the Hill shrine, Umesh added.

Speaking to SOM, Gundlupet KSRTC Depot Manager Jayakumar said that there were over 80 passengers and as it was a freshly-laid road and it rained a day before, the road was slippery. He said that the bus was later brought back to the depot.

On the introduction of short- chassis buses, he said that as of now they have not been supplied with short-chassis buses like the ones that have been introduced in ghat sections and they were running the service with long-chassis buses.