R B Jagadish
Daijiworld Media Network - Karkala (DV)

Karkala, Jul 18: Three persons died and around 18 others were injured in a goods tempo accident at Maroor near Ajekar here on Friday July 18.

Two women and a man died in the accident. Their identities are not yet ascertained.

It is said that the goods tempo was carrying 21 labourers to a construction site. A cement mixer too was loaded into the tempo.

Eyewitnesses said that the tempo driver was speaking on his mobile phone and also driving at a high speed. Due to the speed, the cement mixer rolled over to one side of the tempo, crushing three persons under it, source said.

Also, 18 others who were in the tempo were injured, some of them severely. They have been admitted to government hospital in Karkala.

Some of the injured are identified as Vijaykumar (60), Mahantesh (50), Hanumanta (45), Puttamma (21), Shobha (29), Gadiappa (45), Pakilesh (17), Veeramma, Neelamma (34), Ranganna Gowda (55), Ramanna (20), Sharanabasappa (18), Ellamma and Mahadevi.

It is said that contractor Nagappa picked them up at several points along the way to the contruction site. The locals said that the labourers were packed into the tempo in an inhuman way along with equipment, and coupled with the driver's recklessness, it resulted in the accident.