Otherwise they too would have been travelling in the ill-fated ‘Rajakumara’

Mandya:  When people of Vadesamudra and other villages of Pandavapura taluk are still struggling to come out of the shock following the ill-fated ‘Rajakumara’ bus tragedy, special classes saved lives of 20 students of Vadesamudra village of Pandavapura taluk, who are studying at Chikkabyadarahalli Composite PU College.

The private bus, which was on its way from Pandavapura to Mandya, fell into Visvesvaraya Canal near Kanaganamaradi at Pandavapura taluk, killing 30 people including school children, women and an infant. Eight victims of the tragedy were from Vadesamudra village and rest of them are from Chikkakoppal, Kanaganamaradi and other surrounding villages.

The bus, which was taking a right turn, toppled into the Canal while travelling at 40-50 kmph at around 12 pm on Saturday last. Thousands of people made a beeline for the accident spot as news of the bus falling in the Canal spread like wildfire throughout the district.

On that fateful day, over 20 students of Vadesamudra village were attending special classes  — Eight college students were attending special class taken by their Economics lecturer Gopinath and 12 High School students were attending the special class conducted by their Science teacher Shalini — which saved their lives.

These students would have got into this ill-fated bus to reach Vadesamudra, if their teachers had not taken the special classes after Saturday afternoon. However, the villagers of Vadesamudra expressed gratitude for these teachers for saving the lives of these children.

Pall of gloom continues to prevail

A pall of gloom continues to descend on Vadesamudra village and villagers are still making efforts to come out of the shock.

An eerie silence and sadness still prevailed in every house of the village as the maximum number of victims of the bus tragedy belonged to Vadesamudra.

Residents seem to be cursing God for their fate and many villagers had left eating and are even distracted from their daily chores.

Children fear to go to school

As many students of the village were killed in the accident, several parents are now afraid to send their children to school. Even children are hesitating to go to school and have decided not to attend classes for another 15 days until they come out of the shock.