Bus mows down waiting passengers

Bus mows down waiting passengers
Witnessess Said BMTC Driver Was Speeding, Trying To Catch Up With Another Vehicle
A T Subrahmanya | TNN

Bangalore: Mangled railings and shattered windshield lay on the road, and traces of blood could be seen here and there on the stretch.
It was an early-morning shock for over 20 residents of Singasandra on Hosur main road near Electronic City. They were waiting for a BMTC bus, and the wait turned fatal.
The speeding bus went out of control, drove over the railing near the bus stand and ran over the waiting persons, killing two and injuring six. The ‘killer’ bus was plying on route No. 352B between Kempegowda bus terminal at Majestic and Masthanahalli near Chandapura. At 6.20 am, the 20 residents were waiting for the bus on the sidewalk of a service road on Hosur main road at Singasandra. The bus was coming from Chandapura.
Eeranna, 26, a security guard, and Lakshmidevamma, 50, died on the spot. The six injured are Tammanna, 25, from Subhashnagar near Singasandra; Kala, 47, from BTM Layout; Suresh, 50, from Chandapura; Nagappa, 60; Lakshmidevamma, 45, and Murugesh, 24. The last three are from Singasandra. The injured were taken to St John’s Hospital, Nimhans and Sanjay Gandhi Hospital.
Police blamed BMTC driver Danappa, who was absconding after the accident, for “negligent driving”.
Adugodi ACP (traffic) Lokesh said Danappa joined BMTC one and a half years ago. “It’s the driver’s fault because he was speeding. We’ll take up the issue with BMTC officials,” said additional commissioner of police (traffic) Praveen Sood, who visited the accident site. Eeranna from Shashi Security Agency
was working in an apartment complex in Electronic City. A native of Madakeshira in Andhra Pradesh, he is survived by wife Hemalatha and daughter Tejaswini. Along with him, his father-in-law Havalappa was waiting for the bus at the accident site.
Lakshmidevamma was a homemaker from Singasandra. She was waiting for the bus to go to Majestic. According to witnesses, the BMTC driver was trying to catch up with a speeding private bus, which resulted in the accident. A new bus stand is under construction just a few metres away from the accident site.
However, residents complain that buses don’t stop at designated bus stands, which forces commuters to wait haphazardly on the railing a little distance away. Some commuters wait for buses on the middle of the road too.
A HISTORY OF DEATHS
April 11: Techie Muralikrishna, 27, was killed near Adrasha theatre junction in Ulsoor when his motorcycle was hit by a BMTC bus April 6: Vinod Kumar, a private firm employee from BTM Layout, was killed near Madivala when a BMTC bus hit him while he was going to office March 22: Nadeemulla Khan, 18, and Shoaib, 19, from Yellappa Garden were killed when a BMTC bus rammed into their motorcycle near Kalpalli Cross in K R Puram March 18: Lakshmikanth, 17, a 10th standard student who was distributing newspapers for pocket money, was killed when his bicycle was hit by a BMTC bus near K R Puram March 16: A BMTC bus was torched after Madhu, 22, was killed at Doddanakkunje on Outer Ring Road