Two people died in a collision between a KSRTC Swift bus and a car at Nilamel in Kollam on Monday evening. The accident took place around 6.20 pm.

Officials from the Kadakkal fire station said the car, which was heading towards Thiruvananthapuram, was carrying three people. Local residents reached the spot first and began rescue efforts before emergency services arrived.

“When we got the alert and reached the scene, the driver was trapped inside the crushed vehicle. The other two occupants, including a child, had already been shifted to Gokulam Hospital in Venjaramoodu by locals,” an official said.

Fire personnel later used hydraulic equipment to free the driver, but he was found dead. One of the injured passengers succumbed to injuries at the hospital, raising the death toll to two, officials said.

The victims’ identities are yet to be established. Fire officials said the car is registered in the name of Bichu Chandran, a native of Aramada in Thiruvananthapuram, but it has not been confirmed whether he was driving at the time of the crash.

"According to eyewitnesses, the car collided head-on with the bus while attempting to overtake another vehicle. By the time we reached there, the bus had been moved to the side of the road, leaving the damaged car at the accident site," the official added.