The residents of villages surrounding Kanaganamaradi in Pandavapura taluk of Mandya district were grief struck on Saturday after 30 people died when a private bus plunged into the Visvesvaraya canal between Kanaganamaradi and Kurahatti Gate.
The bus plunged into the deep canal after the driver, whose identity is yet to be established, lost control of the speeding vehicle when it reached the accident spot.
Thirty people, including women and children, died instantly as they could not come out of the completely-sunk vehicle. They were all residents of Wadesamudra, Hulikere Koppalu, Arati Koppalu, Baby, Chikkade, Chamadahalli, Harohalli, Chikkamarali, and surrounding villages.
Among the deceased, four members belonged to one family. They were identified as Radha, 30, her daughters Likitha, 6, and Preksha, 2, and Radha’s aunt Manjula, 50. According to their relatives, Radha’s parents had organised a ‘Shani Devara Puja’ at Wadesamudra and the victims were coming from Pandavapura to attend it.
“It is traumatic for us as we have lost four from our family,” Radha’s cousin told The Hindu.
Family members, relatives, friends and neighbours of the other victims too were inconsolable as they saw the bodies lined on the ground, next to the canal.
The body of Ravikumar, 7, a primary school student, was swept away in the strong current. The Fire and Emergency Services personnel, with the help of local swimmers, recovered it from the canal in the evening.
Two women from Ravikumar’s family collapsed on the ground. They said they had hope that Ravikumar would come alive.
Crowds gather
Soon after the news of the tragedy broke out, villagers from Kanaganamaradi and surrounding areas started arriving at the accident spot. Within an hour of the tragedy, at least 30,000 people had gathered on either side of the canal.
The post-mortem of all the deceased was conducted on the spot on Saturday evening.
“The relatives and family members of the victims are already in grief. Hence, to avoid delay in handing over bodies to the relatives, a decision to conduct post-mortem on the spot was taken,” a senior officer at the Department of Health and Family Welfare said.
A team of 30 doctors from different government hospitals was called to conduct the post-mortem. The bodies were later handed over to the families.