Coimbatore: The next of kin of the seventeen passengers who were killed in the KSRTC bus-lorry accident on Coimbatore-Salem highway will be awarded Rs 10 lakh as compensation, Transport Minister A K Saseendran informed on Thursday.
The family of the bus driver and conductor, employees of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), will be awarded Rs 30 lakh. This is the insurance amount as per the KSRTC policy.
An emergency aid of Rs 2 lakh was released immediately, the minister added.
The accident occurred around 3:15am when the Ernakulam-bound KSRTC Garuda Volvo air-bus from Bengaluru collided with a container lorry near Avinashi on the Coimbatore-Salem highway in the wee hours on Thursday.
All 19 killed are Keralites
“Nineteen people have died and two are critically injured in the accident,” Palakkad SP G Shivavikram said. All nineteen killed are Keralites.
Twenty-five passengers were also injured. The injured have been admitted to Avinashi Government Hospital and Coimbatore District Hospital.
Of the 48 passengers who were onboard the bus, 42 were Keralites, SP Shivavikram confirmed.
Avinashi in Tamil Nadu's Tirupur district is 40km from Coimbatore.
'All possible relief measures will be taken', CM
“All possible relief measures will be taken in cooperation with the government of Tamil Nadu and the District Collector of Tirupur,” the Chief Minister's Office said.
"The KSRTC MD has been asked to submit a report on the cause of the accident," Minister A K Saseendran said.
Transport Minister AK Saseendran and Agriculture Minister VS Sunilkumar are in Avinashi coordinating relief operations.
20 ambulances to bring back bodies
Postmortem of the 19 deceased has been completed. The bodies of the eleven have been sent home.
Ten '108' ambulances and ten other ambulances have been dispatched from Kerala to bring back the mortal remains of the deceased to Kerala, Health Minister KK Shailaja tweeted. The injured will also be brought back to Kerala for treatment in the ambulances.
Their luggage bags too will also be transferred to their respective homes, officials informed.
The cruel twist of fate
The KSRTC bus number 784 had left for Bengaluru from Ernakulam on Monday and was supposed to return by Tuesday night.
However, the journey was postponed to Wednesday night as there were not enough passengers. The bus, that left Bengaluru at 8pm on Wednesday, was scheduled to reach Ernakulam at 7am on Thursday.
Did the driver doze off?
The lorry, which was carrying floor tiles, crashed through the road-divider after a tyre-burst and rammed into the oncoming bus, eyewitnesses report.
The lorry is registered with Costa Shipping in Kadavanthra and belongs to an Ernakulam native, it was found. Hemaraj, who hails was Palakkad, was driving the lorry. He has surrendered to the police.
According to a preliminary report, it was found that the driver may have dozed off. The lorry was reported to have travalled about 50 meters after crossing the divider before ramming into the KSRTC bus. Police is investigation the matter.
The 19
- V D Girish, 44 (driver/conductor) (Perumbavoor, Ernakulam)
- V R Baiju (driver/conductor) (Arakkunnam, Ernakulam)
- Aishwarya, 28 (Ernakulam)
- Naseef Muhammed Ali,24 (Andathode, Thrissur)
- Ragesh, 35 (Cheemanra, Palakkad)
- Rosily (Santhi Colony, Palakkad )
- Haneesh, 25 (Thrissur)
- Jismon Shaju, 24 (Thuravoor, Angamaly)
- Shivakumar, 35 (Ottappalam, Palakkad)
- Igni Raphael, 39 (Ollur, Thrissur)
- Gopika T G, 25 (Ernakulam)
- Emcy Mathew, 30 (Ernakulam)
- Joffy Paul C, 30 (Thrissur)
- Manasi Manikandan, 25 (Ernakulam)
- Anu KV, 25 (Thrissur)
- Sivasankar P, 30 (Ernakulam
- Binu Baiju, 17 (Ernakulam)
- Kirankumar MS (based in Karnataka)
- K D Yesudas
For more details, please contact in the following numbers:
Alagarasan- 7708331194
Ubaid, KSRTC Palakkad Unit Officer- 9495099910
KSRTC Control Room- 0471-2463799, 9447071021
In another accident at Tamil Nadu's Salem, five people were killed as a tourist bus from Nepal collided with a lorry. 26 people were injured in the accident.
