Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)
Mangaluru, Dec 2: The accident which happened at Kadri Kambla Road on Sunday and claimed the life of Shailaja Rao, a senior teacher at Kendriya Vidyalaya at Panambur, happened when the driver of the lorry that was moving towards Circuit House through Kadri Kambla Road tried to avoid an auto rickshaw that was moving across the Kadri Kambla Junction, it has come light. In that process the lorry hit another auto rickshaw.
While Shailaja Rao (55) with 22 years teaching experience in Kendriya Vidyalaya died in the accident, auto rickshaw driver, Vinod, from Kavoor Shantinagar, who suffered serious injuries, is being treated in a private hospital here.
As the lorry was moving at considerable speed, after hitting the auto rickshaw, it dragged the three-wheeler for about 100 meters from the spot where the accident happened. The auto rickshaw driver was tossed on to the roadside in between, and therefore, his life was saved. The auto rickshaw was badly mangled in the accident which happened at 11.40 am. Shailaja, whose nature of injuries was critical, breathed her last in the hospital at around 2 pm.
Shailaja, a teacher of primary section of the school, had served at the Kendirya Vidyalaya branch at Yekkur for a year in the past. She had bagged the regional incentive award for her activities which included scouts and guides where she functioned as Himalayan Wood Badge Captain, and her curricular and extracurricular activities. Her son is a doctor while daughter is a postgraduate degree holder. She lived in Panjimogaru and was going to market in an auto rickshaw when tragedy struck.
The lorry in question was loaded with furniture items from Bengaluru. It had unloaded a part of the things in the city and was moving towards Udupi when this accident took place. The police claim that the lorry driver, Sddalingana Gowda from Bengaluru, was driving the lorry recklessly and at considerable speed, which caused the accident. He stands arrested.
A case about the accident was registered in traffic (east) police station.