MANDYA: Thirty passengers, including schoolchildren, were killed when a private bus fell into the Visvesvaraya canal in Mandya district around noon on Saturday. The tragedy occurred at Kanaganamaradi village within 30 minutes after the Mandya-bound bus started from Pandavapura. The victims include 16 women, eight children and six men from villages in Pandavapura taluk. The children were returning home from schools, Saturday being a half day.  

The 18-year-old bus (KA 19 A 5676) with 34 people, including the driver and the conductor, came hurtling down and fell into the canal that was around 40 ft away from the road when the steering rod broke and the driver lost control of the vehicle. 

As the bus reached the edge of the canal, the driver and conductor managed to jump from the vehicle and fled from the spot.  Two passengers —  Girish (26) and Kaarthik (14) —  wriggled out of the emergency door after breaking the glass and alerted a villager and their friends who were coming by car.

The villagers rushed to the spot and managed to pull out a few bodies with ropes and with the help of their dhotis. 

The villagers had a tough time fishing out the bodies as the bus was fully submerged in the 19-ft-deep water.

Manjunath, a resident, said that they alerted the local authorities who stopped the water into the canal. The bus was lifted out with the help of a crane after the water receded.