Mangalore-Mumbai Bus Meets with Accident at Ankola - Four Dead

Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore

Mangalore, Oct 15: Ankola police have now confirmed that four passengers on the ill-fated Mangalore-Mumbai VRL private bus that met with an accident on Friday October 14 night, have been killed.

Initial reports suggested that seven passengers were feared dead in the accident that occured on a bridge about 12 km away from Ankola in Uttara Kannada district on Friday, at around 10.15 pm.

Three of the deceased are 10-year-old Rajith and 7-year-old Rishitha, both children of Jayaram from Mulky, and 23-year-old Kumari Shraddha Umesh from Mumbai.

The bus departed from Mangalore at 1 pm and was on its way to Mumbai via Moodbidri and Karkala.

The accident took place near Kodlugadde on Ankola-Yellapur road on national highway 63. The cause of the accident has not yet been ascertained. It is suspected that the bus might have hit the protective wall of the bridge, however, another source said that a lorry plying from the opposite direction hit the bus.

There were 37 passengers in the bus. Initial reports stated that four of them died on the spot, while other three breathed their last on the way to hospital. A few of them who fell into the river managed to swim to safety, it is learnt.

Police sources said that several have been injured, and that the condition of at least five of them is critical.

The injured have been shifted to Yellapur and Hubli hospitals. A few who survived the accident, walked along some distance and managed to call the police and emergency services. No mobile network is available at the spot of the accident.

The locals also helped in the rescue mission. The accident led to traffic snarls for some time.

Police rushed to the spot and rescue operations are on.

The names of the deceased and the injured are not immediately available.