BENGALURU:  Five members of a family, travelling back from the Kempegowda International Airport, were killed in a horrific accident when a speeding ambulance jumped the road median and crashed head-on into their car near the Kogilu cross, on the Ballari road flyover, early on Monday morning. 

The deceased have been identified as Dipankar Dey(46), his wife Swagata Chaudhury (42), their son, Dhruv Dey (14), Swagata’s sister, Sujaya (45) and their mother Jayati (65). Incidentally, the family had gone to the airport, to drop Sujaya as she was supposed to catch a flight to Chennai. However, on learning that the flight had been  delayed by five hours, the family decided to return to their house in RT Nagar before going back to the   airport. That was when the tragic accident occured. 

The police have arrested Chennappa, the ambulance driver, on charges of negligent driving. Dipankar’s car was mangled due to the force of the impact and rescue personnel had to work for two hours to extract two of the bodies from the wreckage. The family hailed from Chittaranjan in West Bengal and Dipankar was working for a private multimedia company in  the city. 

He had settled in RT nagar along with his family and his in-laws were staying in Chennai. Sujaya, an IT professional, had brought Jayati to the city for treatment at a private hospital. As per plans, Sujaya had planned on returning to Chennai, letting her mother stay with Dipankar and Swagata to continue her treatment. 

The police were alerted by a cab driver, Arun Lutesh, who made the call. Ambulance driver Chennappa and nurse Praveen Kumar also sustained injuries in the mishap and the police took them to Victoria Hospital for treatment. Chennappa was later arrested. Based on a complaint by Lutesh, the Yelahanka traffic police registered a case. Praveen Kumar told the police that they had come to the city from Devanahalli to shift a patient and were returning.  

Manoj, Sujaya’s husband, told the police that the family had gone together to drop Sujaya to the airport for a flight which got delayed to 5.30 am. They then decided to return at 4 am and were going back home. Swagata was a teaching faculty at a private education institute and her son Dhruv was studying in the          same school.

According to a senior police official, the height of the median on the busy road, is not sufficient to prevent a speeding vehicle from crossing over to the other side. “Such incidents are repeating due to overspeeding on the stretch,” the police officer said. 

A night of horror
A senior police officer said that the accident occurred around 1.30 am when Dipankar was driving his hatchback from the airport towards RT Nagar. Chennappa was driving the ambulance in a reckless manner and lost control over the vehicle when he was on the Kogilu cross flyover. “The vehicle jumped the median and collided with Dipankar’s car which was travelling in the opposite direction,” the police officer said. 

Past incidents 
September 2017: Ganapathi (40), Nagaraju (45) and Darshan (29) were killed on the spot and six others were severely injured when their SUV hit the central median on Hunasamaranahalli flyover. Over-speeding caused a tyre burst and the vehicle crossed the road median.

December 2017 : Three persons, including two women, were critically injured when their car plunged from a 15-foot-high flyover and crashed on to the service road near Raithara Santhe junction in Yelahanka on Kempegowda International Airport road. The trio had gone to the KIA to pick up his father, Prashanth Jain. His father, unaware of the accident took a cab home.