Date:14/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/14/stories/2008101456180100.htm

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10 killed, 23 injured as KSRTC buses collide near Mulbagal

Special Correspondent

The driver of one of the buses was trying to avoid a crater when it happened

WRECKAGE: One of the two KSRTC buses that was involved in a road accident near Mulbagal town in the early hours of Monday.

CHICKBALLAPUR: As many as 10 people were killed and 23 injured, six of them seriously, after two Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses collided on National Highway 4 in Mulbagal taluk of Kolar district in the early hours of Monday.

The police said the accident occurred around 2 a.m. between Hanumanahalli and Mallappanahalli villages, 13 km from Mulbagal town. Of the 10 killed, nine were passengers of a Volvo bus that was bound for Chennai from Bangalore.

The other victim was travelling by an ordinary KSRTC bus that was on its way to Bangalore from Tirupati.

The driver of the Bangalore-bound bus was trying to avoid a crater on the highway, which is being widened, when the accident occurred. Four of the injured died at R.L. Jalappa Hospital in Kolar.

The condition of six of the injured is critical, and one of them has been shifted to NIMHANS in Bangalore, the police said. The KSRTC has announced an ad hoc compensation of Rs. 15,000 each to the families of the dead and Rs. 5,000 each to the injured.

The families of the dead would get a compensation of Rs. 2.50 lakh each within a fortnight.

The dead were identified as Nagaraj (42), a teacher from Hassan district, Pankaja (30), a lecturer from Mysore, Vishnu Priya (28) of R.T. Nagar in Bangalore, Jagganath (48) of Orissa, and Amith Kumar (28), Giri (17), Sachin Rao (23) and Rekha (20), all from Talawadi in Tamil Nadu.

The police gave the name of the driver of the Volvo bus as Lakshmaiah (38) of Hoskote in Bangalore Rural district.

The identity of one of the victims is yet to be established. The Mulbagal police have registered a case.