Mandya (Karnataka), April 3
In a tragic incident, four people were killed on the spot after their car was hit by a luxury Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation bus, Airavat, on the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway here on Thursday.
The accident occurred at the highway exit near Tubinakere village, close to Mandya city.
The deceased were identified as 51-year-old Satyananda Raje Urs, his wife, 45-year-old Nischita, 62-year-old Chandru, and Chandru's wife, 50-year-old Suvedini Rani.
According to police, the accident took place when the car driver, while traveling on the expressway and attempting to exit onto the service road, suddenly re-entered the highway, failing to notice the speeding bus approaching from behind.
The bus driver, unable to control the vehicle, rammed into the car from behind, leading to the fatal crash. The impact was so severe that the car was completely mangled, killing all four occupants instantly, police said.
Authorities used a crane to extract the car, which was stuck to the bus, before retrieving the bodies and shifting them to the mortuary of a local hospital. The accident caused a traffic jam on the busy Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway.
Southern Range DIG M.B. Boralingaiah and Mandya SP Mallikarjun Baladandi rushed to the spot.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the driver's confusion - attempting to re-enter the highway after initially moving toward the service road - led to the tragedy. However, the police stated that the exact sequence of events on how the accident occurred is yet to be ascertained.
Authorities have implemented several measures to prevent accidents on the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway, including imposing a speed limit of 100 km per hour. The car was moving towards Mysuru from Bengaluru.