More than 25 people were injured in two separate accidents involving private buses in Kozhikode on Saturday evening. The accidents occurred between 2.30 pm and 3.30 pm at Velliyoor near Perambra and Chettikulam near Elathur.

In the first incident at Velliyoor, a private bus collided head-on with a tanker truck on the state highway. Rescue operations were carried out jointly by two units each from the Koyilandy and Perambra fire stations, with assistance from the Perambra police and local residents.

According to fire and rescue officials, the driver of the tanker truck and a woman passenger on the bus sustained comparatively serious injuries, while the remaining passengers suffered minor injuries. Both the seriously injured were trapped inside the vehicles and had to be rescued after firefighters cut open parts of the damaged vehicles. “All the injured were shifted to nearby hospitals. The tanker was transporting fuel but was empty at the time of the incident, which helped prevent the situation from becoming more serious,” a fire officer said.

In the second accident at Chettikulam, a private bus operating on the Koyilandy-Kozhikode route rammed into the rear of another private bus travelling from Kannur to Kozhikode. Elathur Police said around 13 people were injured, though none suffered serious injuries.

Cops added that local residents quickly joined rescue efforts and helped shift the injured to nearby private hospitals and a taluk hospital. The accident also caused heavy traffic congestion in the area, though the situation improved after one of the buses was moved off the road.