In a gruesome accident, 13 people, including 11 women, were killed when the mini-bus they were travelling hit a culvert and fell into the valley at Thelekkad near Perinthalmanna in Kerala’s Malappuram district on Friday afternoon.
Eyewitnesses said that the overloaded, over-speeding mini-bus hit the culvert while trying to overtake another bus at a sharp curve. Over 25 persons were admitted to various hospitals and the condition of six of them was said to be serious. The police said death toll might go up.
State Transport Minister Aryadan Muhammad, hailing from Malappuram district, confirmed that the bus was over-speeding when the accident occurred. Those killed included the driver of the bus and seven Class XII students, who were returning home from their schools.
local residents said that competition among the buses was the prime reason for the accident. “The driver obviously had not considered that his small bus was overloaded. It seems that he also had not taken into account
the fact that he was negotiating a sharp curve while trying to overtake the other bus,” said a local resident.
Just seven days back, eight people, including four children and two women, had been killed at Tanur in Malappuram district, some 30 km away from the site of Friday’s accident when a an over-speeding bus rammed into the autorikshaw in which they were travelling.