Nine persons were killed and at least 40 injured, 12 of them critically, when a tourist bus carrying school students rammed into the rear of a KSRTC fast passenger bus on the Walayar-Vadakkanchery national highway early Thursday.
Initial reports suggest the deceased included five students, mostly 15 years and younger, one teacher and three KSRTC bus passengers. The accident took place near the Anjumoorthy-Mangalam bus stop.
The tour group from Baselious School in Mulanthuruthy in Ernakulam were headed to Udhagamandalam (Ooty), a verdant and misty hill station in the Nilgiris district in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
Transport Minister Antony Raju told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram the tourist bus was travelling well above the legal speed limit, an estimated 97.2 km per hour.
He said the driver was possibly fatigued. Preliminary information received by the government indicated that he had just returned after a three-day trip to Velankani.
The bus owner had assigned him for the long-distance drive with no allowance for sufficient rest to “squeeze profits”. The owner also wanted quick turnarounds to expedite tour operations.
Mr. Raju said the school authorities had ignored the Transport Department’s circular that regional transport officials inspect the bus’s fitness and verify the driver’s track record before contracting a carriage for student tours. However, the school authorities failed to notify the transport department.
Mr. Raju said a slew of violations had caused the accident. He had tasked Transport Commissioner S. Sreejith to reach the spot immediately and conduct an enquiry.
Mr. Raju said the government would ensure that tourist buses adhered to road safety norms. It would also impound buses kitted out with blinding lights and deafening horns and sound systems. He said such illegal extra fittings impaired the driver’s concentration and unnerved other road users.
The tourist vehicle had overturned after ramming into the KSRTC bus. Television images showed the mangled remains of the vehicles. Fire and Rescue Department officials had to cut away large chunks of metal to extricate the trapped passengers. Local people assisted them.
A distraught parent told a television news reporter in Ernakulam that her ward, who survived the accident, and his classmates had tried vainly to prevent the driver from overspeeding.
Excise Minister M.B. Rajesh and Devasom Minister K. Radhakrishnan reached the spot. They said the government had fast-tracked inquest and post-mortem procedures to return the bodies of the deceased to the relatives at the earliest.
Mr. Radhakrishnan hinted that the State would likely compensate the victims. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is on a European tour, would take the final call.
The Ministers said the police were yet to conclude the identification process. They will likely release the list of causalities soon.
