Lorry uproots electric pole on Kottayam road, lucky escape for bike riders

Lorry uproots electric pole on Kottayam road, lucky escape for bike riders
Lorry uproots electric pole on Kottayam road, lucky escape for bike riders. Photo: Manorama

Kottayam: Two bike riders had a lucky escape after a lorry uprooted an electric post at Kanjikuzhi Junction in Kerala's Kottayam town around Saturday noon.

A likely disaster was looming as an 11 KV electric post on the wayside got stuck between the driving cabin and cargo bed of the rock-laden lorry coming from Manarcadu area, via the KK Road, turned on to the Kanjikuzhi-Kollad Road around 11am.  Unaware of this, its driver continued to drive and the post came off. Simultaneously the electric wires fell or dangled over the road. 

A major tragedy was averted as the power was cut off automatically as the post fell.

The lorry dragged the post along for over 10 metres before coming to a halt on the middle of the road exactly at the trijunction here. Traffic was stalled for more than an hour at the busy junction from where the KK Road branches off to Puthupally and Kollad sides. 

Another concrete post near a transformer, which was 20 metres away on the other side of the KK Road, also fell down as the wires got stretched.  Meanwhile, a bike coming towards Kottayam along the KK Road got entangled in the electric wires. The electric line fell on to bike riders T N Babu and Venugopal, both BSNL employees. Though the bike toppled, they escaped without injuries. 

Another bike rider, who saw the post falling, managed to get off his vehicle and escaped.

The fire force personnel, police and KSEB personnel worked to remove the entangled electric lines and the post from the lorry, and the traffic was restored. 

The Kottayam (East) Police have filed a case against the lorry driver.

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